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AUTHOR. 


GLADSTONE,  W.  E. 


TITLE: 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 
OF  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURE 


PLACE: 


PHILADELPHIA 


DATE: 


1892 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

BIBLIOGRAPHir  MICROFORM  TARHFT 

Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


■  Philosophy 
!  D220 


G45 


Restrictions  on  Use: 


Gladstone,  WilHam^-gii^ffee^^gg,  1809-1898. 

1XM'%M''7r""^''  'o^k  of  Holy  Scripture,  by  the  Rt  Hon 
1J  .     .  (.la.lstone.  m.  ...    Rev.  :,„.l  p„1.  e d.    Philadelnl  h   J  d' 
»i>(lles&co.,  1896;   10D2.  ^ '"'"ueiimi.i,  j.  u. 

2  P.  I.,  vu-xlx.  424  p.    front  (port.)  2  facshu.  ,1  fo,u.)     loj  ^m 

,„re.-TMrci-7aMon\toVT  Thii'nn,'""''*'.?"'""^  '"''^'^  »'  ""'y  Scrlp- 
lu  on.lino.-The  Psa;,  i^Z?f.^  ZLTZZ^  ?,'  ""*  *^"^  TestaS 
corroborations  of  Scripture  from  .ho  ll  '"eislatlon.— On  the  recent 
8cU.nce.-Con.luHlon':    N.rof.Tn;  sn^n^'^.'lIiTaci:'  ""'°^*'  ""'*  "»'""»' 

a.iriT;,Ht'v.'^^'''^'TTitr"*"-  '"^'"'•'"-  -^'^""«-    O.  T.-Ev.dence«. 


Virfflnla.     Univ.     LIbr.    i       j 

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THE 


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THE 


IMPREGNABLE  ROCK  OF  HOLY 

SCRIPTURE 


BY 


The  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.   GLADSTONE,  M.  P. 


REVISED  AND  ENLARGED  EDITION 


PHILADELPHIA 
JOHN  D.  WATTLES,  Publisher 

1892 


THE 


4;i%i'7/-<-' 


IMPREGNABLE  ROCK  OF  HOLY 

SCRIPTURE 


BY 


The  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.   GLADSTONE,  M.  P. 


REVISED  AND  ENLARGED  EDITION 


PHILADELPHIA 
JOHN  D.  WATTLES,  Publisher 

1892 


Copyright,  1890, 
By  JOHN  D.  WATTLES. 

Copyright,  189a. 
By  JOHN  D.  WATTLES. 


J) 


"»0 


[Letter  accompanying  the  firet  edition.] 


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PREFACE 


TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


\'' 


f 


The  primary  purpose  of  this  little  work  is  to 
point  out  that  recent  controversies  stand  related 
rather  to  the  literary  form  than  to  the  substance 
of  the  divine  revelation  conveyed  to  us  in  the  Old 
Testament ;  and  to  insist  upon  some  of  the  argu- 
ments which  tend  to  prove  that  in  the  main  the  old 
belief  as  to  that  substance  is  plainly  the  right  belief. 
It  is  attested  by  the  laws  of  literary  probability, 
rising  into  moral  certainty.  It  is  also  attested  in  a 
special  manner  by  the  unparalleled  phenomenon  of 
the  Jewish  race,  such  as  it  has  been  and  is  down  to 
the  present  day ;  and  by  the  flood  of  reflected  light 
which  streams  back  upon  it  out  of  the  entire  history 
of  Christendom. 

This  distinction  between  the  substance  and  the 

vii 


via 


PREFACE. 


literaiy  form  supplies  the  basis  of  the  remarkable 
and  powerful  essay  which  Dean  Milman  prefixed 
in  1863  to  the  second  edition  of  his  "History  of 
the  Jews."     He  tells  us  that  "  he  has  been  able  to 
follow  out  all  the  marvellous  discoveries  of  science, 
and  all  those  hardly  less  marvellous,  if  less  certain' 
conclusions  of  historical,  ethnological,  linguistic  crit- 
icism, in  the  serene  confidence  that  they  are  utterly 
irrelevant  to  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  to  the 
truth  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  far  as  concerns  its 
distinct  and  perpetual  authority,  and  its  indubitable 
meaning." ' 

He  cites  a  passage  of  great  breadth  and  lucidity 
from  Paley,  which  inter  alia  delivers  a  challenge  not 
yet,  as  I  believe,  answered  from  any  hostile  camp. 

"  Undoubtedly  our  Saviour  assumes  the  divine 
origin  of  the  Mosaic  institution;  and,  independently 
of  his  authority,  I  conceive  it  to  be  very  difficult  to 
assign  any  other  cause  for  the  commencement  or 
existence  of  that  institution :  especially  for  the  sin- 
gular circumstance  of  the  Jews  adhering  to  the 

*  Page  vi. 


■I 


N 


PREFA  CE. 


IX 


Unity,  when  every  other  people  slid  into  polythe- 
ismj  for  their  being  men  in  religion,  children  in 
everything  else;  behind  other  nations  in  the  arts 
of  peace  and  war,  superior  to  the  most  improved 
in  their  sentiments  and  doctrines  relating  to  the 
Deity." 

They  could  not  even  attract  the  notice,  during 
long  ages,  of  the  more  famous  races :  "  Lo,  the 
people  shall  dwell  alone,  and  shall  not  be  reckoned 
among  the  nations  "   (Num.  23  :  9). 

Paley  then  proceeds  to  show  that  these  strong 
statements  of  principle  entail  no  servile  literalism: 

"Undoubtedly  also  our  Saviour  recognizes  the 
prophetic  character  of  many  of  their  ancient  writers. 
So  far,  therefore,  we  are  bound  as  Christians  to  go. 
But  to  make  Christianity  answerable  with  its  life  for 
the  circumstantial  truth  of  each  separate  passage  of 
the  Old  Testament,  the  genuineness  of  every  book, 
the  information,  fidelity,  and  judgment  of  every 
writer  in  it,  is  to  bring,  I  will  not  say  great,  but 
unnecessary  difficulties  into  the  whole  system."  * 

>  Paley 's  "  Evidences,"  Part  III.,  Chap.  III. 


PREFA  CE, 


In  direct  confutation  of  those  who  conceive  that 
down  to  the  present  generation  theology  has  per- 
mitted of  no  dispute  or  doubt  as  to  any  of  the 
minutiae  of  the  sacred  volume,  Dean  Milman  ob- 
serves that  in  his  early  days — that  is  to  say,  wlien 
the  centuiy  began— Paley's  "Evidences"  (from 
which  the  foregoing  citation  is  taken)  furnished  a 
text -book  for  important  seats  of  learning  and  of 
religious  education. 

After  citing  the  opinion  of  Evvald,  that  the  whole 
Pentateuch  was  pre-Exilic,  the  Dean*  declares  this 
assertion  not  to  be  adequate  to  the  entire  breadth 
of  the  case. 

"  I  am  persuaded  that  the  written  law,  even  Deu- 
teronomy, was  of  far  earlier  date :  indeed  existed,  if 
not  in  the  absolutely  perfect  form  as  it  now  exists, 
yet  as  the  recognized,  well-known,  statute  law  of 
the  people." 

The  integrity  and  authority,  then,  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  its  substance,  need  not  and  do  not 
suffer  from  the  recognition  of  a  latitude,  even  if 

»  ••  Hist.  Jews,  •  I,  43,  note. 


PREFACE, 


XI 


It  be  a  wide  latitude,  as  to  its  literary  form.    But 
that  which  perplexes  and  may  even  alarm  a  sober- 
minded  reader  is,  that  we  have  suffered  controversy 
on  the  form  perhaps  almost  to  hide  the  substance 
from  our  view,  certainly  to  lower  and  enfeeble  the 
living  sense,  which  the  body  of  believers  has  always 
entertained,  of  its  authority,  its  majesty,  its  strin- 
gency, ay  of  the  terrors  of  the  law  for  those  who 
will  not  accept  its  blessings.     It  really  too  often 
seems  as  if,  when  we  are  arguing  about  the  authen- 
ticity of  Genesis  or  Exodus,  we  had  no  weightier 
task  in  hand  than  if  we  were  discussing  the  Epistles 
of  Phalaris,  or  the  letters   of  Ganganelli,  or  the 
authorship  of  Junius.     And  yet  there  they  stand, 
these  great  facts  and  doctrines,  in  all  the  primitive 
severity  of  their   outline,    unshaken    and   august. 
There  we  find,  now  as  heretofore,  the  doctrines  of 
creation,  of  life,  of  human  life,  of  the  introduction 
of  sin  into  the  world,  of  the  havoc  which  it  wrou^rht 
of  the  simultaneous  promise  of  redemption,  of  the 
selection  of  a  special  race  for  special  purposes,  and 
of  the  gradual  preparation  of  the  nations  until  the 


Xll 


PRE  FA  CE. 


fulness  of  time  had  come.    I  have  here  said  nothing 
of  that  exhibition  of  preternatural  power,  which  is 
supph'ed  by  prophecy  and  by  wonder.     These  I 
forbear  to  dwell  on,  not  so  much  because  they  can- 
not add  to  the  marvel  of  Creation,  as  because  they 
seem  to   make  a  presupposition   or  postulate  of 
religious  faith,  while  facts  of  the  class  of  those 
above  recited,  and  of  those   before  quoted  from 
Paley,  rest  in  general  upon  grounds  of  known  fact, 
or  of  evidence  cognizable  by  all. 

More  particularly  I  own  does  it  appear  as  if 
there  had  now  spread  among  many  of  the  teachers 
of  religion  an  apprehension  of  fully  unfolding  and 
strongly  enforcing  on  their  hearers  of  to-day  the 
doctrine  of  sin,  and  of  its  moral  and  judicial  conse- 
quences, such  as  it  is  taught  in  the  Jewish  and  the 
Christian  Scriptures.     But  this  I  have  no  doubt  is 
due  in  part  to  an  enemy  very  far  more  powerful 
than  what  is  called  the  higher  criticism,  namely, 
the  world  and  its  increasing  power  over  our  minds 
and  lives. 

Finally:    It  is  good  without  doubt  to  place  our 


PRE  FA  CE. 


xm 


views  of  the  venerable  Torah  in  harmony  with 
sound  research  and  with  the  best  understood  con- 
ditions of  historical  experience  and  of  Providential 
action ;  but  it  is  anything  rather  than  good,  if,  in 
our  debates  about  the  setting,  we  become  blind  to 
the  lustre  of  the  jewel  it  enshrines. 

In  the  present  issue  of  this  work,  the  text  has 
been  revised  throughout,  and  the  argument  has 
been  enlarged  by  additions  at  various  points. 

In  "  The  Creation  Story "  I  have  more  largely 
and  explicitly  declined  to  take  my  stand  upon  the 
plea  that  it  is  concerned  only  or  mainly  with  physi- 
cal adjustments.     I  have  endeavored  to  set  forth 
more  fully  the  immense  importance  of  the  announce- 
ment concerning  Creation  with  which  the  sacred 
volume  opens;  and  I  have  supplied  for  popular 
purposes  an  account  of  the  contents  of  the  great 
chapter,  which  must,  I  fear,  fall  far  short  of  scien- 
tific precision.     I  have  also  prefixed  to  this  essay 
a  remarkable  statement  from   Hackel's  "History 
of  Creation." 

In  "  Mosaic  Legislation  "  I  have  inserted  some 


XIV 


PREFACE. 


PRE  FA  CE. 


remarks  on  the  Prophets  and  their  mission ;  and 
at  the  close  I  have  endeavored  to  exhibit  the  sin- 
gularly marked  evidences  of  Providential  action 
in  the  final  catastrophe  of  the  Temple  and  of  Je- 
rusalem. 

And  lastly,  I  have  added  to  the  volume  a  note  on 
the  Swine  Miracle  of  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  which 
appeared  to  be  called  for  by  a  criticism  of  Profes- 
sor Huxley's  on  a  portion  of  the  text  of  the  first 
edition. 

Since  these  chapters  were  sent  to  press,  I  have 
read  the  work  ^  of  Dr.  Warring  on  "  Genesis  I.  and 
Modern  Science."  This  acute  and  comprehensive 
criticism  appears  to  proceed  from  a  gentleman  of 
recognized  scientific  attainments.  But  not  less  re- 
markable than  his  talent  or  his  knowledge  is  his 
courageous  tone.  He  is  no  "  reconciler ;  "  for  Gen- 
esis and  science  according  to  him  are  already  at 
one  by  what  they  respectively  testify.  He  thinks 
it  has  been  the  halting  and  shifting  state  of  science 

>  ••  Genesis  I.  and  Modern  Science."    New  York :  Hunt  and  Eaton. 
189a. 


XV 


in  former  days  which  has  helped  to  prevent  a  due 
appreciation  of  the  inestimable  treasures  contained 
in  this  great  chapter.  Instead  of  taking  refuge  in 
half-hearted  pleas  of  poetry  and  vision,  he  is  struck 
especially  by  the  *'  intense  literalism  "  ^  of  the  Mo- 
saic account. 

Dr.  Warring  needs  no  sponsorship  from  me,  and 
I  am  far  from  supposing  that  he  has  supplied  the 
last  word  on  this  great  subject,  or  that  every  word 
of  his  treatise  can  be  perfect.  But  the  closeness 
and  fulness  of  his  minute  examination  is  extremely 
valuable,  were  it  only  for  this,  that  it  affords  to  op- 
ponents all  that  they  can  desire  in  amplitude  and 
definiteness  of  opportunity  for  criticism  or  for  con- 
futation, and  that  it  helps  to  put  out  of  countenance 
and  drive  off  the  field  what  I  have  termed  the  half- 
hearted  method  of  defense. 

In  his  contentions  there  are  some  few  that  offer 
an  aspect  of  novelty ;  as,  for  example,  his  most  in- 
teresting exposition  2  of  the  function  of  the  heavenly 

*  "  Genesis  I.  and  Modem  Science,"  p.  189. 
'  Pages  114,  seqg. 


•^ 


XVI 


PRE  FA  CE. 


bodies  (vs.  14-18),  and  his  restricting  the  verses 
on  plant  and  animal  life  to  "  present  genera,"  or 
that  "  culmination  of  plant-life,"  and  those  highly 
developed  organisms,  which  he  refers  to  the  latter 
part  of  the  tertiary  period.^ 

No  doubt  there  may  be  some  differences  of  inter- 
pretation even  among  those  who  unite  in  maintain- 
ing the  authenticity  of  the  record.     But  I  cannot 
help  remarking  that  even  these  differences,  subsist- 
ing in  a  scientific  period,  illustrate  the  wonderful 
efficacy  with  which  the  Mosaic  narrative  did  its 
practical  work  among  the  Hebrews,  to  whom,  to- 
gether with  the  other  Scriptures,  it  was  intrusted. 
That  practical  aim  was  not  the  work  of  expound- 
ing the  nebular  theory,  or  the  deposition  of  the 
rocks.     It  was  the  moral  and  spiritual  work  of 
inculcating  the  grand  doctrine  of  Creation,  of  ex- 
hibiting as  the  operations  of  God  the  grand  phys- 
ical conditions  of  our  life,  and  thereby  of  opening 
to  the  chosen  race  that  great  Book  of  Nature  which 
other  races  of  higher  intellectual  gifts  failed  to  open 

*  "  Genesis  I.  and  Modern  Science,"  pp.  io6,  183. 


FREE  A  CE, 


xvu 


for  any  moral  purpose,  but  which  has  so  long  been 
recognized,  and  is  now  to  be  acknowledged  more 
than  ever,  as  one  of  the  principal  vehicles  for  con- 
veying a  knowledge  of  the  Most  High  to  his 
rational  creatures. 


London, 

May,  i8g2. 


•\/ 


CONTENTS. 

I*  PAGB 

First  View  of  the  Impregnable  Rock  of  Holy  Scripture      i 

11. 

The  Creation  Story 36 

III. 
The  Office  and  Work  of  the  Old  Testament  in  Outline  128 

IV. 
The  Psalms 183 

V. 

The  Mosaic  Legislation 239 

VI. 

On  the  Recent  Corroborations  of  Scripture  from  the 
Regions  of  History  and  Natural  Science    .    .    .    .31a 

VII. 
Conclusion 353 

Note  on  the  Swine  Miracle 418 

xix 


I. 

FIRST  VIEW  OF  THE  IMPREGNABLE 
ROCK  OF  HOLY  SCRIPTURE. 


It  is  a  serious  question  how  far  one  ignorant,  like 
myself,  of  Hebrew,  and  having  no  regular  practice 
in  the  study  and  explanation  of  the  text  of  the  Old 
Testament,  is  entitled  to  attempt  representations 
concerning  it,  which  must  present  more  or  less  the 
character  of  advice,  to  any  portion  of  his  fellow- 
men.      It  is  clear  that  he  can  draw  no  sufficient 
warrant  for  such  a  course  from  the  mere  warmth 
of  his  desire  to   arrest  a  prevailing  mischief,  or 
from  his  fear  lest  any  portion  of  the  British  pub- 
lic should  lose  or  relax  unawares  their  hold  upon 
the  book  which  Christendom  regards  as  an  inesti- 
mable treasure,  and  thereby  bring  upon  themselves, 
as  well  as  others,  an  inexpressible  calamity.     But, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  has  some  better  pleas  to  urge. 


J 


2  THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 

The  first  is,  that  there  is  a  very  large  section  of  the 
community,  whose  opportunities  of  judgment  have 
been  materially  smaller  than  his  own.     The  second 
^is,  that  though  he  is  greatly  wanting  in  the  valuable 
qualifications  which  grow  out  of  special  study  in 
this  field,  he  has,  for  more  than  forty  years  (believ- 
ing that  change  of  labor  is  to  a  great  extent  the 
healthiest  form  of  recreation),  devoted  the  larger 
part  of  all  such  time  as  he  could  properly  withdraw 
from  political   duties   to  another,  and   m   several 
respects   a   similar,  field   of  specialism.      I   mean 
hereby  the  earnest  study  of  prehistoric  antiquity 
and  of  its  documents  in  regard  to  the  Greek  race- 
whose  destinies  have  been,  after  those  of  the  He- 
brews, the  most  wonderful  in  themselves,  and  the 
most  fertile  of  results  for  us,  among  all  the  races  of 
mankind.     As  between  this  field,  which  has  for  its 
central  point  the  study  of  Homer,  and  that  of  the 
early  Scriptures,  which  may,  in  the  mass,  be  roughly 
called  contemporary  with  the  Homeric  period,  much 
Hght  is,  and  with  the  progress  of  research  more  can 
hardly  fail  to  be,  given  and  received.     Moreover,  I 


OF  HOL  Y  SCRIPTURE, 

have  there  had  the  opportunity  of  perceiving  how, 
among  specialists  as  with  other  men,  there  may  be' 
fashions  of  the  time  and  school,  which  Lord  Bacon 
called  idols  of  the  market-place,  and  currents  of 
prejudice  running  below  the  surface.     These,  it  is 
obvious,  may  detract  somewhat  from  the  authority 
which  each  inquirer  might  justly  claim  in  his  own 
field,  and  from  his  title  to  impose  his  own  conclu- 
sions upon  mankind.    As  a  judicious  artist  likes  to 
know  the  opinion  even  of  one  not  an  expert  on  his 
picture,  and  sometimes  derives  benefit  from  it,  so 
in  all  studies  lights  may  be  thrown  inwards  from 
without.    Such  a  process  is  likely  to  be  particularly 
needful  in  cases  where  the  special  branch  deals  with 
a  subject-matter  that  both  takes  deep  root  in  our 
nature,  and  is  the  source  of  profoundly  interesting 
controversies  for  mankind  at  large.     Yet  I  do  not 
feel  sure  that  these  considerations  would  have  led 
me  to  make  the  present  attempt,  were  they  not 
capped  with  another  of  great  importance. 

It  appears  to  me  that  we  may  grant,  for  argu- 
ment's sake,  to  the  negative  or  destructive  special- 


i 


4  THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 

ist  in  the  field  of  the  ancient  Scriptures  all  which 
as  a  specialist  he  can  by  possibility  be  entitled  to 
ask,  respecting  the  age,  text,  and  authorship  of  the 
books ;  and  yet  may  hold  firmly — as  firmly  as  of 
old — to  the  ideas  justly  conveyed  by  the  title  I 
have  adopted  for  these  papers,  and  may  invite  our 
fellow-men  to  stand  along  with  us  on  "the  im- 
pregnable rock  of  Holy  Scripture." 

These  words  sound  like  a  challenge.  And  they 
are  a  challenge  to  some  extent,  but  not  in  the  sense 
that  might  be  supposed.  They  are  a  challenge  to 
accept  the  Scriptures  on  the  moral  and  spiritual 
and  historical  ground  of  their  character  in  them- 
selves, and  of  the  work  which  they,  and  the  agen- 
cies associated  with  them,  have  done  in  the  world 
for  some  thousands  of  years,  and  are  doing  still. 
We  may,  without  touching  the  domain  of  the  critics, 
contend  for  them  as  corresponding  by  their  con- 
tents to  the  idea  of  a  divine  revelation  to  man. 
We  are  entitled  to  attempt  to  show  that  they  afford 
that  kind  of  proof  of  such  a  revelation  which  is 
analogous  to  tlie  known  divine  operations  in  other 


OF  HOL  Y  SCRIPTURE. 


5 


spheres ;  which  binds  us  as  to  conduct ;  and  which 
in  other  matters,  from  the  simple  fact  that  we  are 
rational  beings,  we  recognize  as  entitled  so  to 
bind  us. 

And  again.  I  hold  that  the  other  documents 
of  historic  and  prehistoric  religions  are  precious 
in  various  ways.  But  we  may  legitimately  ask 
whether  the  Scriptures  do  not  differ  in  such  a 
manner  and  degree  from  those  other  documents, 
as  to  leave  to  them  only  the  office  of  witnesses  and 
buttresses  to  Holy  Scripture,  rather  than  sharers  m 
it,  although  in  their  degree  they  may  be  this  also. 

But  all  these  assertions  lie  within  the  moral  and 
spiritual  precinct.  No  one  of  them  begs  any  liter- 
ary question  of  Old  Testament  criticism.  They 
leave  absolutely  open  every  issue  that  has  been  or 
can  be  raised  respecting  the  origin,  date,  author- 
ship and  text  of  the  sacred  books,  which  for  the 
present  purpose  we  do  not  require  even  to  call 
sacred.  Indeed,  it  may  be  that  this  destructive 
criticism,  if  entirely  made  good,  would,  in  the  view 
of  an  inquiry  really  searching,  comprehensive,  and 


6  THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 

philosophical,  leave  as  its  result  not  less  but  greater 
reason  for  admiring  the  hidden  modes  by  which 
the  great  Artificer  works  out  his  designs.     For, 
ixi  proportion  as  the  means  are  feeble,  perplexed,' 
and  to  all  appearance  confused,  is  the  marvel  of  the 
results  that  are  made  to  stand  before  our  ^y^^. 
And  the  upshot  may  come  to  be  that,  on  this  very 
ground,  we  may  have  to  cry  out,  with  the  Psalmist 
absorbed  in  worshiping  admiration,  "  Oh  that  men 
would  therefore  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness, 
and  declare  the  wonders  that  he  doeth  for  the  chil- 
dren of  men !  '*  (Psa.  107 :  8.)     For  "  how  unsearch- 
able  are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding 
out!'*    (Rom.  11:33.)     For  the  memories  of  men, 
and  the  art  of  writing,  and  the  care  of  the  copyist,' 
and  the  tablet   and  the  rolls  of  parchment,  ari 
but  the  secondary  or  mechanical  means  by  which 
the  Word  has  been  carried  down  to  us  along  the 
river  of  the  ages ;  and  the  natural  and  inherent 
weakness  of  these   means   is  in  reality  a  special 
tribute  to  the  grandeur  and  vastness  of  the  end, 
and  of  Him  that  wrought  it  out. 


OF  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE. 


So,  then,  these  high-sounding  words  have  been 
placed  in  the  foreground  of  the  present  observa- 
tions, because  they  convey  in  a  positive  and  defi- 
nite manner  the  conclusions  which  the  observations 
themselves  aim  at  sustaining,  at  least  in  outline,  on 
general  grounds  of  reason,  and  at  enforcing  as  a 
commanding  rule  of  thought  and  life.  They  lead 
upwards  and  onwards  to  the  idea  that  the  Scrip- 
tures are  well  called  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  that, 
though  assailed  by  camp,  by  battery,  and  by  mine, 
they  are  nevertheless  a  house  builded  upon  a  rock, 
and  that  rock  impregnable ;  that  the  weapon  of 
offense,  which  shall  impair  their  efficiency  for  aid- 
ing in  the  redemption  of  mankind,  has  not  yet 
been  forged ;  that  the  Sacred  Canon,  which  it  took 
(perhaps)  two  thousand  years  from  the  accumula- 
tions of  Moses  down  to  the  acceptance  of  the 
Apocalypse  to  construct,  is  like  to  wear  out  the 
storms  and  the  sunshine  of  the  world,  and  all 
the  wayward  aberrations  of  humanity,  not  merely 
for  a  term  as  long,  but  until  time  shall  be  no 
more. 


s 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


And  yet,  upon  the  very  threshold,  I  embrace,  in 
what  I  think  a  substantial  sense,  one  of  the  grlat 
canons  of  modern  criticism,  which  teaches  us  that 
the  Scriptures  are  to  be  treated  like  any  other  book 
in  the  trial  of  their  title.     The  volume,  which  is 
put  into  our  hands  when  young  under  that  ven- 
erated  name,  is,  like  any  other  volume,  made  with 
paper,  types,  and  ink,  and  has  been  put  together  as 
a  material  object  by  human  hands.     The  many  and 
diversified  utterances  it  contains  proceeded  from 
the   mouth   or  pen   of  men;   and    the   question, 
whether  and  in  what  degree,  through  supernatural 
guidance,  they  were,  for  this  purpose,  more  than 
men,  is  to   be  determined,   like   other   disputable 
questions,  by  the  evidence.     The  books  have  been 
transmitted  to  us  from  their  formation  onwards  in 
perishable  materials,  and  from  remote  dates.     They 
were  so  transmitted,  until  four  hundred  years  ago, 
by  the  agency  of  copyists,  as  in  the  case  of  other 
literary  productions,  and  presumably  with  a  like 
liability  to   casual   error,  nay,   even  to  fraudulent 
handling.     That  in  some  sense  the  Holy  Scriptures 


OF  HOL  Y  SCRIPTURE, 

contain  something  of  a  human,  or  uncertain,  ele- 
ment is   clear,  as  to   the   New   Testament,   from 
diversities  of  reading,  from  slight  conflicts  in  the 
narrative,  and  from  an  insignificant  number  of  con- 
troverted cases  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the  text. 
We  have  also  the  Latin  Vulgate  partially  competing 
with  the  Greek  original,  on  the  ground  that  it  has 
been  more  or  less  based  on  manuscripts  older  than 
any  we  now  possess.     As  regards  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, we  find  the  established  Hebrew  Text  to  be 
mostly  founded  on  manuscripts  of  a  date  not  earlier 
than  (I  believe)  the  tenth  century  ^  of  our  era.     It  is, 
moreover,  at  variance  in  many  points  with  the  Greek 
version,  commonly  termed  the  Septuagint ;  which 
is  considered  to  date,  if  not  wholly,  yet  as  to  very 
important  portions    of  the  work,  from   the  third 
century  before   the  advent   of  our   Saviour;   the 
framers  of  which  had  before  them  copies  older  by 
more  than  a  thousand  years;  and  which  appears 

1  I  understand  that,  in  the  case  of  the  Pentateuch,  the  British  Mu- 
seum has  a  manuscript  which  is  certainly  not  later  than  of  the  eighth 
century,  and  which  is  in  the  closest  correspondence  with  the  present 
text. 


lO 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


to  have  received  a  certain  amount  of  recognition 

from  our  Lord  and  the  Apostles  in  the  citations 

which  they  make  from  it.     Thus  the  accuracy  of 

the  text,  the  age  and  authorship  of  the  books,  open 

up  a  vast  field  of  purely  literary  controversy ;  and 

such  a  question  as  whether  the  closing  verses  of 

St.  Mark's  GospeP  have  the  authority  of  Scripture 

must  be  determined  by  literary  evidence,  as  much 

as  the  genuineness  of  the  pretended  preface  to  the 

^neid,  or  of  a  particular  stanza  which  appears  in 

an  ode  of  Catullus.^ 

Towards  summing  up  these  observations,  I  will 
remind  the  reader  that  those  who  believe  in  a  divine 
revelation,  as  pervading  or  as  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  especially  those  who  accept  the  full  doc- 
trine of  literalism  as  to  the  vehicle  of  that  inspira- 
tion, have  to  lay  their  account  with  the  followmg 
(among  other)  considerations,  which  it  is  hard  for 

^  I  have  never  seen  a  confutation  of  the  reasonings  of  Dean  Burgon 
in  his  treatise  on  this  subject.  He  supports  the  text  as  it  stands  The 
marginal  note  in  the  Revised  Version  is  surely  unsatisfactory,  for  it 
does  not  tell  the  whole  case,  but  only  a  part,  and  that  on  one  side, 
about  the  manuscripts,  a  Carm.  Lll.  13-16. 


OF  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE, 


II 


them  to  repudiate  as  inadmissible.     There  may  pos- 
sibly have  been — 

1.  Imperfect  comprehension  of  that  which  was 
divinely  communicated. 

2.  Imperfect  expression  of  what  had  once  been 
comprehended. 

3.  Lapse  of  memory  in  oral  transmission. 

4.  Errors  of  copyists  in  written  transmission. 

5.  Changes  with  the  lapse  of  time  in  the  sense  of 
words. 

6.  Variations  arising  from  renderings  into  differ- 
ent tongues,  especially  as  between  the  Hebrew  text 
and  the  Septuagint. 

7.  The  inspired  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
varied  in  the  text  they  used  for  citations  from  the 
Old  Testament,  and  did  not  regard  either  the  He- 
brew or  the  Greek  as  of  exclusive  authority. 

8.  There  are  three  variant  chronologies  of  the 
Old  Testament,  according  to  (i)  the  Hebrew,  (2) 
the  Septuagint,  and  (3)  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch, 
respectively.  It  would  apparently  be  unwarrant- 
able to  claim  for  any  one  of  them,  as  against  the 


12 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


others,  the  absolute  sanction  of  a  divine  revelation; 
while  an  historical  argument  of  some  importance 
may  be  deducible,  on  the  other  hand,  from  the  fact 
that  their  variations  lie  within  certain  limits. 

No  doubt  there  will  be  those  who  will  resent  any 
association  between  the  idea  of  a  divine  revelation 
and  the  possibility  of  even  the  smallest  intrusion  of 
error  into  its  vehicle.     This  idea,  however,  is  by 
no  means  altogether  a  novelty.     It  is  manifestly 
included  as  a  likelihood,  if  not  a  certainty,  in  the 
fact  of  continuous  transmission  by  human  means 
without  continuous  miracle  to  guarantee  it.     But 
further,  ought  they  not  to  bear  in  mind  that  we  are 
bound  by  the  rule  of  reason  to  look  for  the  same 
method  of  procedure  in  this  great  matter  of  a  writ- 
ten provision  of  divine  knowledge  for  our  needs,  as 
in  the  other  parts  of  the   manifold   dispensation 
under  which  Providence  has  placed  us?      Now, 
that  method  or  principle  is  one  of  sufficiency,  not 
of  perfection ;  of  sufficiency  for  the  attainment  of 
practical  ends,  not  of  conformity  to  ideal  standards; 
and  the  question  what  constitutes  that  sufficiency 


OF  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE. 


13 


is  a  matter  on  which  we  have  no  more  authority  to 
pass  judgment  in  relation  to  the  Scriptures,  than  in 
relation  to  any  other  part  of  the  divine  dispensa- 
tions ;  on  all  of  which  the  Almighty  appears  to  have 
reserved  this  matter  to  himself.  Bishop  Butler,  I 
think,  would  wisely  tell  us  that  we  are  not  the 
judges,  and  that  we  are  quite  unfit  to  be  the  judges, 
of  what  may  be  the  proper  amount  and  the  just 
conditions  of  any  of  the  aids  to  be  afforded  us  in 
passing  through  the  discipline  of  life.  I  will  only 
remark  that  this  default  of  ideal  perfection,  this  use 
of  twilight  instead  of  a  noonday  blaze,  may  be 
adapted  to  our  weakness,  and  may  be  among  the 
appointed  means  of  exercising,  and  by  exercise  of 
strengthening,  our  faith.  But  what  properly  belongs 
to  the  present  occasion  is  to  point  out  that  if  proba- 
bility, and  not  demonstration,  marks  the  divine 
guidance  of  our  paths  in  life  as  a  whole,  we  are  not 
entitled  to  require  a  different  rule  in  the  present 
case.  When  the  Almighty,  in  his  mercy,  makes 
a  special  addition  by  revelation  to  what  he  has 
already  given  to  us  of  knowledge  in  Nature  and  in 


14  THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 

Providence,  we  cannot  justly  ask  that  this  special 
gift  should  be  unlike  his  other  gifts,  and  should 
have  all  its  lines  and  limits  drawn  out  with  mathe- 
matical  precision. 

I  have  then  admitted,  I  hope  in  terms  of  suffi- 
cient  fulness,  that  my  aim  in  no  way  embraces  a 
controversy  with  the  moderate,  or  even  with  the 
extreme,  developments  of  textual  criticism.      Dr 
Driver,  the  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew  at  Oxford  ^ 
personally,  as  well  as  officially,  a  champion  of  the 
doctrine  that  there  is  a  divine  revelation,  has  recently 
shown,  with  great  clearness  and  ability,  that  the 
basis  of  such  criticism  is  sound  and  undeniable 
whatever  be  its  liability  to   aberration   either   in 
method  or  in  details.     It  compares  consistencies 
and  mconsistencies  of  text,  not  simply  as  would  be 
done  by  an  ordinary  reader,  but  with  all  the  lights 
of  collateral  knowledge.      It  pronounces  on  "the 
meaning  of  terms  with  the  authority  derived  from 
thorough  acquaintance  with  a  given  tongue,  or  with 
language  at  large.     It  investigates  and  applies  those 

»  Contemporary  Review.  February.  1890.  pp.  215.231. 


OF  HOL  Y  SCRIPTURE, 


15 


laws  of  growth,  which  operate  upon  language  as 
they  operate  in  regard  to  a  physical  organism. 

It  has  long  been  known,  for  example,  that  por- 
tions of  the  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament, 
such  as  the  Books  of  Chronicles,  were  of  a  date 
very  far  later  than  most  of  the  events  which  they 
record,  and  it  is  widely  believed  that  a  portion  of 
the  prophecies  included  in  the  Book  of  Isaiah  were 
later  than  his  time.^  It  is  now  pressed  upon  us 
that,  according  to  the  prevailing  judgment  of  the 
learned,  the  form  in  which  the  older  books  of  the 
Old  Testament  have  come  down  to  us  does  not 
correspond  as  a  rule  with  their  titles,  and  is  due 
to  later  though  still,  as  is  largely  held,  to  remote 
periods ;  and  that  the  law  presented  to  us  in  the 
Pentateuch  is  not  an  enactment  of  a  single  date, 
but  has  been  enlarged  by  a  process  of  growth,  and 
by  gradual  accretions.  To  us  who  are  without 
original  means  of  judgment  these  are,  at  first  hear- 

1  I  am  not  aware,  however,  what  is  the  reply  to  the  arguments 
(for  example)  of  Mr.  Urwick,  who  contends  for  the  unity  of  author- 
ship.    ("The  Servant  of  Jehovah."     Edinburgh :  Clark.     1877.) 


i6 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


ing,  without  doubt,  disturbing  announcements. 
Yet  common  sense  requires  us  to  say,  let  them 
be  fought  out  by  the  competent,  but  let  not  us 
who  are  incompetent  interfere.  I  utterly,  then, 
eschew  for  myself  the  responsibility  of  conflict' 
with  these  properly  critical  conclusions. 

But  this  acquiescence  is  subject  to  the  following 
remarks.     First,  the  acceptance  of  the  conclusions 
of  the  critics  has  reference   to   the  present  liter- 
ary form  of  the  works,  and  leaves  entirely  open 
every  question  relating  to  the  substance.     Any  one 
who  reads  the  books  of  the  Pentateuch,  from  the 
second  to  the  fifth,  must  observe  how  litde  they 
present   the  appearance   of  consecutive,  coherent 
and  digested  record.     But  their  several  portions' 
must  be  considered  on  the  evidence  applicable  to 
them  respectively.     And  the  main  facts  of  the  his- 
tory they  contain  have  received  strong  confirma- 
tion from  Egyptian  and  Eastern  research.     With 
regard  to  the  Book  of  Genesis,  the  admission  which 
has  been  made  implies  nothing  adverse  to  the  truth 
of  the  traditions  it  embodies,  nothing  adverse  to 


OF  HOL  Y  SCRIPTURE, 


17 


their  antiquity,  nothing  which  excludes  or  dis- 
credits, as  to  the  older  among  them,  the  idea  of 
their  having  originally  formed  part  of  a  primitive 
revelation,  simultaneous  or  successive.  The  forms 
of  expression  may  have  changed,  yet  the  substance 
may  remain  with  an  altered  literary  dress ;  as  some 
scholars  have  thought  (not,  I  believe,  rightly)  that 
the  diction  and  modeling  of  the  Homeric  Poems 
is  comparatively  modern,  and  yet  the  matter  they 
embody  may  belong  to  a  remote  antiquity.  It  is 
also  conceivable  that  the  diction  of  Chaucer,  for 
example,  might  be  altered  so  as  to  conform  to  the 
usage  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  to  leave  little 
apparent  resemblance  to  the  original,  and  yet  that 
the  whole  substance  of  Chaucer  might  remain. 

Further,  our  assent  to  the  conclusions  of  the 
critics  ought  to  be  stricdy  limited  to  a  provisional 
and  revocable  assent ;  and  this  on  practical  grounds 
of  stringent  obligation.  For,  firstly,  these  conclu- 
sions appear  to  be  in  a  great  measure  floating  and 
uncertain,  to  be  the  subject  of  manifold  contro- 
versy.    Secondly,  they  seem  to  shift  and  vary  with 


'51 


i8 


r/i£  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


rapidity  in  the  minds   of  those  who  hold  them 

Considering  the  terms  in  which  he  announced  on 

the  title-page,  his  reproduction  of  the  work  of  Bleek 

|n  1878,'  VVellhausen  may  fairly  be  held  to  accept' 

m  the  main,  the  genuineness   of  those   Davidic 

Psalms  which  are  contained  in  the  First  Book  of 

the  Psalter.     But  I  understand  that  this  position 

has  of  late  years  been  abandoned,  and  that,  stand- 

•ng.  as  he  appears  to  do,  at  the  head  of  the  negative 

P^men.    [The  ed.t.on  published  and  adopted  by  Wellhausen    , 
11    «"*'■  ^''^"^•'•'^^'^  "-'-e  boo^had  bee^Xd  „ 
Wellhausen  work  assigns  n,„ch  weigh.  ,o  .he  Davidic  ,i.   s-  giv^  ,o 

it-w  so  jate.     (bections  220-222.  nap-es   act  .fk.       r    r.     ' 
"  Einleituntr  ••  \     T„  ♦»,       j- •  ^-'t  P^ges  457-464.   of  the 

x^^inieitung.    )     Jn  the  edition  of  1878   rnotp  n   ^.^^   u 

raise  the  question  whether  -ill  th.  P  7  ^'  ^     ^'    ^  ''^"^'  ^^ 

decidine  it  ■  and   T  '  ^'"^  Post-Exihc.  but  without 

deciding  1      and  this  note  was  subsequently  dropped.     In  March 
1866  Ewald  wrote  thus  his  final  opinion  on  the  Psalms-  "  Notl: 
can  be  more  untrue  and  perverse  than  the  opinion  that  t  e        r! 

r:::  ^nV';  r^-  '''-'-''^  ^^"^^-     ^-'-w  even  tie    rl 
es  par  of  the  Psalter  is  derived  from  that  source!  indeed,  songs  from 
the  last  century  before  Christ,  and  of  the  utterly  degeneratf  Has 
mon.an  king  Jann.os!-     ('.Commentary  on  tL  2^1^" 
son's  Translation.  Preface,  p.  iv.)     He  thinl  the  re  enT t ^i^^ 
perverse  as  the -Hengstenbergs  and  Puseys.'.     (/,,v/   ;;7'^^°"^^ 


01^  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE, 


19 


critics,  he  now  brings  down  the  general  body  of  the 
Psalms  to  a  date  very  greatly  below  that  of  the 
Babylonic  Exile.     It  is  certainly  unreasonable  to 
hold  a  critic  to  his  conclusions  without  exception. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  asked  whether, 
in   order   to  warrant  confidence,  they  ought  not 
to  exhibit  some  element  of  stability.     The  open- 
ing of  new  sources  of  information  may  justify  all 
changes  fairly  referable  to  such  sources;  and  in 
minor  matters  the  finer  touches  of  the  destructive, 
as  well  as  the  constructive,  artist,  may  be  needed  to 
complete  his  work.     But  if  reasonable  grounds  for 
change  do  not  determine  its  bounds,  there  must  be 
limits,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  duty  of  deference 
and  submission  on  the  part  of  the  outer  and  unin- 
structed  world,  with  respect  to  these  literary  con- 
clusions.    It  seems  doubtful  how  far  they  present 
to  us  that  aggregate  continuity  and  steadiness  in 
the  matter  of  progression,  which  the  whole  world 
recognizes  in  the  case  of  the  physical  sciences ;  and 
the  most  liberal  estimate  can  hardly  carry  them 
farther  than  this,   that  we  should    keep  an  open 


20 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


mind  till  the  cycle  of  change  has  been  run  through, 
and  till  time  has  been  given  for  the  detection  of 
flaws,  and  for  the  hearing  of  those  whose  researches 
may  have  led  them  to  different  results. 

In  the  present  instance  we  have  an  example, 
which  may  not  be  without  force,  in  support  of  this 
warning.  Mr.  Margoliouth,  the  Laudian  Professor 
of  Arabic  at  Oxford,  and  a  gentleman  of  early 
academical  distinctions  altogether  extraordinary, 
has  published  his  Inaugural  Lecture,^  in  which  he 
states  his  belief  that,  from  materials  and  by  means 
which  he  lucidly  explains,  it  will  be  found  possible 
to  reconstruct  the  Semitic  original,  hitherto  un- 
known, ot  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus.  It  was 
written,  as  he  states,  by  Ben  Sira,  not  in  the  Hebrew 
of  the  Prophets,  but  in  the  later  Hebrew  of  the 
Rabbis  (p.  6).  I  understand  that  there  are  three 
great  stages,  or  states,  of  the  Hebrew  tongue :  the 
Ancient,  the  Middle,  and  the  New;  and  that  of 
these  the  earlier  or  classical  Scriptures  belong  to 

*"On    the    place    of   'Ecclesiasticus'     in    Semitic    Literature." 
Clarendon  Press,  1890. 


OF  HOL  Y  SCRIPTURE, 


21 


the  first,  and  the  Book  of  Nehfemiah  (for  example) 
to  the  second.  The  third  is  the  Rabbinical  stage. 
The  passage  from  one  to  another  of  these  stages 
is  held,  under  the  laws  which  determine  the  move- 
ment of  that  language,  to  require  a  very  long  time. 
Professor  Margoliouth  finds  that  Ben  Sira  wrote 
in  Rabbinical  Hebrew,  and  the  earlier  we  find  Rab- 
binical Hebrew  in  use,  the  farther  we  drive  into 
antiquity  the  dates  of  books  written  in  Middle  and 
in  Ancient  Hebrew.  Suppose,  by  way  ot  illus- 
tration, that  Professor  Margoliouth  shows  Rab- 
binical Hebrew  to  have  come  into  use  two  hundred 
years  earlier  than  had  been  supposed,  the  effect  is 
to  throw  backwards  by  two  hundred  years  the 
latest  date  to  which  a  book  in  Middle  or  in  Ancient 
Hebrew  could  be  assigned.  No  wonder,  then,  that 
Professor  Margoliouth  observes  (p.  22) — 

*'  Some  students  are  engaged  in  bringing  down 
the  date  of  every  chapter  in  the  Bible  so  late  as 
to  leave  no  room  for  prophecy  and  revelation.'* 

But  he  goes  on  to  add  that  if,  by  the  task  which 
he  has  undertaken,  and  by  those  who  may  follow 


22 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


and  improve  upon  him,  this  Book  shall  be  prop- 
erly restored, 

"  Others*  will  endeavor  to  find  out  how  early  the 
professedly  post-Exilian  books  can  be  put  back,  so 
as  to  account  for  the  divergence  between   their 
awkward  Middle  Hebrew  and  the  rich  and  elo- 
quent  New  Hebrew   of  Ben  Sira.     However  this 
may  be,  hypotheses,  which  place  any  portion  of 
the  classical  or  Old  Hebrew  Scriptures  between 
the  Middle  Hebrew  of  Nehemiah   and   the   New 
Hebrew  of   Ben   Sira,  will   surely  require  some 
reconsideration,  or  at  least  have  to  be  harmonized 
in  some  way  with  the  history  of  the  language,  be- 
fore they  can  be  unconditionally  accepted.'* 

Hence  the  spectator   from   without,  perceiving 
that  there  is  war,  waged  on  critical  grounds,  in  the 
critical  camp  itself,  may  surmise  that  what  has  been 
wittily  called  the  order  of  disorder  is  more  or  less 
menaced  in  its  central  seat ;  and  he  may  be  the 
more  hardened  in  his  determination  not  to  rush 
prematurely  to  final  conclusions  on  the  serious, 
though  not  as  I  suppose  vital,  question  respecting 


OF  HOL  V  SCR/PrdkE. 


23 


the  age  and  authenticity  of  the  early  books  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  their  present  literary  form. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  mistaking  the  indifferent 
for  the  essential,  and  as  a  slavish   adherence   to 
traditions  insufficiently  examined.     But  the  liabili- 
ties of  human  nature  to  error  do  not  all  lie  on  one 
side.     It  may  on  the  contrary  be  stated  with  some 
confidence  that,  when  error  in  a  certain  direction, 
after  a  long  and  quiet  sway,  is  effectively  called  to 
account,  it   is   generally  apt,  and  in   some  cases 
certain,  to  be  followed  by  a  reign  of  prejudices,  or 
biassed  judgments,  more  or  less  extended,  and  in  a 
contrary  direction.     There  is   such  a  thing  as  a 
warping   of  the   mind   in  favor  of  disintegration. 
Often  does  a  critic  bring  to  the  book  he  examines 
the  conclusion  which  he  believes  that  he  has  drawn 
from  it.     Often,  when  he  has  not  thus  imported  it, 
yet  the  first  view,  in  remote  perspective,  of  the 
proposition  to  which  he  leans  will  induce  him  to 
rush  at  the  most  formidable  fences  that  lie  straight 
ahead  of   him,  instead  of   taking  his  chances  of 
arriving  at  it  by  the  common  road  of  reason.     And 


24 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


often,  even  when  he  has  attained  his  conclusion 
without  prejudice,  he  will  after  adopting  defend  it 
against  objectors,  not  with  argument  only,  but 
with  all  the  pride  and  pain  of  wounded  self-love. 
And  every  one  of  these  dangers  is  commonly 
enhanced  in  something  like  the  same  proportion 
in  which  the  particular  subject-matter  embraces 
the  highest  interests  of  mankind. 

What   I  would   specially  press    upon  those  to 
whom  I  write  is,  that  they  should  look  broadly 
and    largely   at    the   subject  of   Holy   Scripture, 
especially  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  older  dispen- 
sation, which  are,  so  to  speak,  farther  from  the  eye. 
They  should  never  allow  themselves  to  be  drawn 
away  from  that  broad  and  free  contemplation  into 
discussions  which,  though  in  their  own  place  legiti- 
mate, nay,  needful,  yet  are  secondary,  and  there- 
fore, when   substituted   for  the  primary,  become 
worse  than  frivolous.     I  do  not  ask  this  from  them 
as  philosophers  or  as  Christians,  but  as  men  of 
sense.     I  ask  them  to  look  at  the  subject  as  they 
would  look  at  the  British  Constitution,  or  at  the 


OF  HOL  Y  SCRIPTURE, 


25 


poetry  of  Shakespeare.     Under  our  existing  laws, 
any  one  branch  of  the  British  Legislature  can  stop 
the  proceedings  of  the  whole.     Again,  the  House 
of  Commons   can   reduce  to  beggary  the  whole 
army,   navy,   and    civil    service    of  the    country. 
Neither  law  nor  usage  makes  any  provision  for 
meeting  the  case,  and  this  although  there  would 
ensue  from  it  nothing  less  than  a  frustration  of  the 
purposes  for  which  men  join  together  in  society. 
We  might  be  pressed  by  glowing  representations 
of  these  apparent  absurdities.     Still  there  are  prob- 
ably not  ten  men  in  the  country  whose  estimate 
of  the  Constitution  they  live  under  would  be  affected 
by  these   supererogatory  objections.     And  if  we 
are  in  any  measure  to  grasp  the  office,  dignity,  and 
authority  of  the  Scriptures,  we  must  not  suppose  we 
are  dealing  adequately  with  that  lofty  subject  by 
exhausting  thought  and  time  in  examining  whether 
Moses  either  edited  or  wrote  the  Pentateuch  just 
as  it  stands,  or  what  was  the  book  of  the  law  found 
in  the  temple  in  the  time  of  Josiah,  or  whether  it 
is  possible  or  likely  that  any  changes  of  addition 


26 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


or  omission  may  have  crept  into  the  text.     If  the 
most  greedily  destructive  among  all  the  theories 
of  the  modern  critics  (rather  seriously  at  variance 
with  one  another)  were  established  as  true,  it  would 
not  avail  to  impair  the  great  facts  of  the  history  of 
man  with  respect  to  the  Jews,  and  to  the  nations 
of  the  worid ;  nor  to  disguise  the  light  which  those 
facts  throw  upon  the  pages  of  the  sacred  volume ; 
nor  to  abate  the  commanding  force  with  which, 
bathed,  so  to  speak,  in  the  flood  of  that  light,  the 
Bible  invites,  attracts,  and  commands  the  adhesion 
of  mankind.     Even  the  moral  problems,  which  may 
be  raised  as  to  particular  portions  of  the  volume, 
and  which  may  not  in  all  cases  have  found  any 
absolute  and  certain  solution,  are  surely  lost  in  the 
comprehensive  contemplation  of  its  general  strain, 
its  immeasurable  loftiness  of  aim,  and  the  vastness 
of  the  results  which  it,  and  its  immediate  accom- 
paniments in  institution  and  event,  have  wrought 
for  our  predecessors  in  the  journey  of  life,  for  our- 
selves, and  for  the  most  forward,  dominant,  and 
responsible  portions  of  our  race.     But  these  moral 


OF  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE, 


27 


problems,  which  really  form  the  most  important 
part  of  the  case,  have  not  been  dug  out  of  the 
ground  by  the  recent  criticism.  They  have  at  all 
times  been  present  to  the  mind  of  the  serious 
reader.  Whatever  difficulty  they  present  to  us 
is  not  a  new,  but  an  old  difficulty. 

In  a  passage  which  rises  to  the  very  highest  level 
of  British  eloquence,  Dr.  Liddon,^  exhausting  all 
the  resources  of  our  language,  has  described,  so 
far  as  man  may  describe  it,  the  ineffable  and  unap- 
proachable position  held  by  the  sacred  volume.  It 
is  too  long  to  quote,  too  special  to  appropriate ; 
and  to  make  extracts  would  only  mangle  it.  The 
commanding  eminence  of  the  great  preacher  of  our 
metropolitan  Cathedral  will  fasten  the  public  atten- 
tion on  the  subject,  and  will  powerfully  serve  to 
show  that  the  Scriptures,  in  their  substantial  tissue, 
rise  far  above  the  region  of  criticism,  which  gives 
no  sign  of  being  about  to  do  anything  permanent 

1  Sermon  preached  at  St.  Paul's  on  the  Second  Sunday  in  Advent, 
December,  1889,  pp.  28-31.  [Since  this  was  written,  death  has  extin- 
guished in  Dr.  Liddon  a  light  of  the  English  Church,  singularly  bright 
and  pure.] 


mmmHmmmtm 


26 


TI/E  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


or  omission  may  have  crept  into  the  text.     If  the 
most  greedily  destructive  among  all  the  theories 
of  the  modern  critics  (rather  seriously  at  variance 
with  one  another)  were  established  as  true,  it  would 
not  avail  to  impair  the  great  facts  of  the  history  of 
man  with  respect  to  the  Jews,  and  to  the  nations 
of  the  world ;  nor  to  disguise  the  light  which  those 
facts  throw  upon  the  pages  of  the  sacred  volume ; 
nor  to  abate  the  commanding  force  with  which, 
bathed,  so  to  speak,  in  the  flood  of  that  light,  the 
Bible  invites,  attracts,  and  commands  the  adhesion 
of  mankind.     Even  the  moral  problems,  which  may 
be  raised  as  to  particular  portions  of  the  volume, 
and  which  may  not  in  all  cases  have  found  any 
absolute  and  certain  solution,  are  surely  lost  in  the 
comprehensive  contemplation  of  its  general  strain, 
its  immeasurable  loftiness  of  aim,  and  the  vastness 
of  the  results  which  it,  and  its  immediate  accom- 
paniments in  institution  and  event,  have  wrought 
for  our  predecessors  in  the  journey  of  life,  for  our- 
selves, and  for  the  most  forward,  dominant,  and 
responsible  portions  of  our  race.     But  these  moral 


OF  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE. 


27 


problems,  which  really  form  the  most  important 
part  of  the  case,  have  not  been  dug  out  of  the 
ground  by  the  recent  criticism.  They  have  at  all 
times  been  present  to  the  mind  of  the  serious 
reader.  Whatever  difficulty  they  present  to  us 
is  not  a  new,  but  an  old  difficulty. 

In  a  passage  which  rises  to  the  very  highest  level 
of  British  eloquence,  Dr.  Liddon,^  exhausting  all 
the  resources  of  our  language,  has  described,  so 
far  as  man  may  describe  it,  the  ineffable  and  unap- 
proachable position  held  by  the  sacred  volume.  It 
is  too  long  to  quote,  too  special  to  appropriate ; 
and  to  make  extracts  would  only  mangle  it.  The 
commanding  eminence  of  the  great  preacher  of  our 
metropolitan  Cathedral  will  fasten  the  public  atten- 
tion on  the  subject,  and  will  powerfully  serve  to 
show  that  the  Scriptures,  in  their  substantial  tissue, 
rise  far  above  the  region  of  criticism,  which  gives 
no  sign  of  being  about  to  do  anything  permanent 

1  Sermon  preached  at  St.  Paul's  on  the  Second  Sunday  in  Advent, 
December,  1889,  PP-  28-31.  [Since  this  was  written,  death  has  extin- 
guished in  Dr.  Liddon  a  light  of  the  English  Church,  singularly  bright 
and  pure,] 


28 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


or  effectual  to  lower  their  moral  and  spiritual 
grandeur,  or  to  disguise  or  intercept  their  gigantic 
work. 

I  turn  to  a  cognate  topic.  The  impression  pre- 
vails that,  in  this  and  other  countries,  the  operative 
classes,  as  they  are  termed,  have  at  the  great  cen- 
ters of  population,  here  and  elsewhere,  largely  lost 
their  hold  upon  the  Christian  creed.  There  may 
be  exaggeration  in  this  belief;  but,  all  things  taken 
together,  there  is  evidently  more  or  less  (let  us  hope 
less)  of  foundation  for  it.  It  does  not  mean,  at 
least  among  us,  that  they  have  lost  respect  for  the 
Christian  religion,  or  for  its  ministers ;  or  that  they 
desire  their  children  to  be  brought  up  otherwise 
than  in  the  knowledge  and  practice  of  it ;  or  that 
they  themselves  have  snapped  the  last  ties  which, 
on  the  cardinal  occasions  of  existence,  associate 
them  with  its  ordinances;  or  that  they  have  re- 
nounced or  modified  the  moral  standards  of  conduct, 
which  its  conspicuous  victory  after  an  obstinate 
contest  of  many  centuries,  and  its  long  possession 
of  the  social  field,  have  established  for  the  benefit 


OF  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE. 


29 


of  mankind.  It  may  mean  no  more,  but  also  no 
less,  than  this:  that  their  positive,  distinct,  and 
conscious  acceptance  of  the  articles  of  the  Creed, 
and  their  sense  of  the  dignity  and  value  of  the 
sacred  record,  are  blunted,  or  in  some  cases  even 

effaced.* 

In  passing,  I  may  be  permitted  to  offer  a  remark. 
If  assent  be  more  or  less  largely  withheld  by  the 
less  well-to-do  segment  of  society,  it  is  still,  not- 
withstanding the  skeptical  movement  of  the  day, 
very  generally  yielded  in  this  country  by  the 
leisured  and  better  provided  classes  in  most,  though 
not  all,  of  their  branches.  I  simply  state  this  as 
fact,  without  drawing,  in  this  case,  any  inference 

from  it. 

There  seems  thus  to  be,  within  certain  limits,  an 

1  As  I  write  in  the  general  interests  of  befief,  and  on  no  narrower 
ground,  it  is  with  deep  regret  that  I  extract  the  following  statement 
from  the  excellent  compilation  of  Messrs.  Macmillan,  termed  the 
Statesman's  Year-Book.  for  1890.  In  France,  account  is  taken  at  the 
census  of  religious  belief,  and  in  1881,  for  the  first  time,  a  column  was 
provided  for  those  who  declined  to  make  any  declaration  of  belief. 
The  number  of  persons  returned  under  this  head  is  no  less  than 
7,684,906. 


30 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


approach  to  a  reversal  of  the  respective  attitudes 
which  prevailed  in  the  infancy  of  our  religion. 
Then  the  "poor"  were  the  principal  objects  of  the 
personal  ministry  of  Christ  our  Lord,  and  it  was 
their  glory  to  be  the  readiest  receivers  of  the  gos- 
pel.^ They  were  then  "  the  poor  of  this  world,  rich 
in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom  which  he  hath 
promised  to  them  that  love  him."  ^  They  Lad  fewer 
obstacles,  especially  within  themselves,  to  prevent 
their  accepting  the  new  religion.  It  was  less  hard 
for  them  to  become  **  as  little  children."  They  had, 
to  all  appearance,  more  palpable  interests  in  the 
promise  of  the  life  to  come,  as  compared  with  the 
possession  of  the  life  that  now  is.  The  seeming 
change  in  their  comparative  facility  of  access  to  the 
Saviour,  as  respects  belief,  is  one  to  afford  much 
matter  for  meditation.  The  present  purpose  is  to 
deal,  in  slight  outline  at  least,  with  one  of  its  causes. 
For  one  such  cause  certainly  is  the  wide,  though 
more  or  less  vague,  disparagement  of  the  Holy 

1  Graetz,  "  History  of  the  Jews,"  Vol.  II.,  Chap.  VI.  (1891). 

»  James  2  :  5, 


OF  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE, 


31 


Scriptures  recently  observable  in  the  surface  cur- 
rents of  prevalent  opinion,  as  regards  their  title  to 
supply,  in  a  supreme  degree,  food  for  the  religious 
thought  of  man,  and  authoritative  guidance  for  his 
life. 

Amongst  the  suppositions,  I  believe  erroneous, 
which  tend  to  produce  this  disparagement,  are  the 
following : 

1.  That  the  conclusions  of  science  as  to  natural 
objects  have  shaken  or  destroyed  the  assertions  of 
the  early  Scriptures  with  respect  to  the  origin  and 
history  of  the  world,  and  of  man,  its  principal  in- 
habitant. 

2.  That  their  contents  are  in  many  cases  offen- 
sive to  the  moral  sense,  and  unworthy  of  an  en- 
lightened age. 

3.  That  our  race  made  its  appearance  in  the 
world  in  a  condition  but  one  degree  above  that  of 
the  brute  creation,  and  only  by  slow  and  painful 
but  continual  progress  has  brought  itself  up  to  the 
present  level  of  its  existence. 

4.  That   men   have  accomplished  this  by   the 


^AJsti-'*.;*  "*ir  t ..... 


'4yi**^  -"•■ 


#-    4       ^■. 


■        '      >  •(•',>-) 


a  /  4 


30 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


approach  to  a  reversal  of  the  respective  attitudes 
which    prevailed  in  the   infancy  of  our   religion. 
Then  the  "poor"  were  the  principal  objects  of  the 
personal  ministry  of  Christ  our  Lord,  and  it  was 
their  glory  to  be  the  readiest  receivers  of  the  gos- 
pel.»     They  were  then  "  the  poor  of  this  world,  rich 
in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom  which  he  hath 
promised  to  them  that  love  him."  «    They  Lad  fewer 
obstacles,  especially  within  themselves,  to  prevent 
their  accepting  the  new  religion.     It  was  less  hard 
for  them  to  become  **  as  little  children."     They  had, 
to  all  appearance,  more  palpable  interests  in  the 
promise  of  the  life  to  come,  as  compared  with  the 
possession  of  the  life  that  now  is.     The  seeming 
change  in  their  comparative  facility  of  access  to  the 
Saviour,  as  respects  belief,  is  one  to  afford  much 
matter  for  meditation.     The  present  purpose  is  to 
deal,  in  slight  outline  at  least,  with  one  of  its  causes. 
For  one  such  cause  certainly  is  the  wide,  though 
more  or  less  vague,  disparagement  of  the  Holv 

»  Graetz,  "  History  of  the  Jews."  Vol.  II.,  Chap.  VI.  (1891). 

*  James  2  :  5. 


OF  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE. 


31 


Scriptures  recently  observable  in  the  surface  cur- 
rents of  prevalent  opinion,  as  regards  their  title  to 
supply,  in  a  supreme  degree,  food  for  the  religious 
thought  of  man,  and  authoritative  guidance  for  his 
life. 

Amongst  the  suppositions,  I  believe  erroneous, 
which  tend  to  produce  this  disparagement,  are  the 
following : 

1.  That  the  conclusions  of  science  as  to  natural 
objects  have  shaken  or  destroyed  the  assertions  of 
the  early  Scriptures  with  respect  to  the  origin  and 
history  of  the  world,  and  of  man,  its  principal  in- 
habitant. 

2.  That  their  contents  are  in  many  cases  offen- 
sive to  the  moral  sense,  and  unworthy  of  an  en- 
lightened age. 

3.  That  our  race  made  its  appearance  in  the 
world  in  a  condition  but  one  degree  above  that  of 
the  brute  creation,  and  only  by  slow  and  painful 
but  continual  progress  has  brought  itself  up  to  the 
present  level  of  its  existence. 

4.  That   men   have  accomplished  this  by  the 


32 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


exercise  of  their  natural  powers;  and  have  never 
received  the  special  teaching  and  authoritative 
guidance,  which  is  signified  under  the  name  of 
divine  revelation. 

5.  That  the  more  considerable  among  the  dif- 
ferent races  and  nations  of  the  world  have  devised, 
and  have  established  from  time  to  time,  their  re- 
spective religions;  and  have  also  in  many  cases 
accepted  the  promulgation  of  sacred  books,  which 
are  to  be  considered  as  essentially  of  the  same 
character  with  the  Bible. 

6.  That  the  books  of  the  Bible,  in  many  most 
important  instances,  and  especially  those  books  of 
the  Old  Testament  which  purport  to  be  the  earliest, 
so  far  from  being  contemporary  with  the  events 
which  they  record,  or  with  the  authors  to  whom 
they  are  ascribed,  are  comparatively  recent  com- 
pilations from  uncertain  sources,  and  are  therefore 
without  authority. 

Most  of  the  foregoing  remarks  relate  to  the  last 
of  these  assumptions;  and  I  shall  proceed  in  due 
course  to  observe  upon  others  among  them. 


OF  HOL  V  SCRIPTURE, 


33 


There  are  propositions  wider  still,  but  wholly 
foreign  to  the  present  purpose ;  such  as  that  God 
is  essentially  unknowable,  that  we  have  no  reason- 
able evidence  of  a  life  beyond  the  grave,  and  that 
rational  certainty  is  confined  to  material  objects 
and  to  the  testimony  of  the  senses.  Passing  by 
these  propositions,  I  confine  myself  wholly  to  what 
preceded  them ;  and  I  shall  endeavor,  from  some 
points  of  view,  to  present  an  opposing  view  of  the 
spiritual  field.  Moreover,  as  each  of  these  is  the 
subject  of  a  literature  of  its  own  which  may  be 
termed  scientific,  I  here  premise  that  what  I  have 
to  say  will,  though  I  hope  rational  and  true,  be  not 
systematic  or  complete,  but  popular  and  partial 
only.  It  will  have  for  its  immediate  aim  to  show 
that  there  are  grave  reasons  for  questioning  every 
really  destructive  proposition  that  has  been  ad- 
vanced, and  for  withholding  our  assent  from  them 
until  these  reasons  (and,  as  I  conceive,  many  others) 
shall  be  confuted  and  set  aside. 

I  shall,  however,  as  being  in  duty  bound  to  follow 

the  truth  so  far  as  I  can  discern  it,  have  to  make 

3 


34 


THE  IMPREGNABLE  ROCK 


many  confessions  in  the  course  of  my  argument. 
These  confessions  will  be  to  the  prejudice,  not,  as  I 
trust,  of  Christian  belief  or  of  the  sacred  volume, 
but  only  of  us,  who  as  its  students  have  failed 
gravely,  and  at  many  points,  in  the  duty  of  a  tem- 
perate and  cautious  treatment  of  it  Just  as,  un- 
happily, we  have  also  failed,  and  often  more  grossly 
failed,  in  every  other  duty.  But,  as  the  lines  and 
laws  of  duty  at  large  remain  unobscured,  notwith- 
standing the  imperfections  everywhere  diffused 
among  those  bound  to  follow  it,  so  we  may  trust 
that  sufficient  light  yet  remains  for  us,  if  duly  fol- 
lowed, whereby  to  establish  the  authority  and 
sufficiency  of  Holy  Scripture  for  its  high  moral 
and  spiritual  purposes.  For  the  present,  I  have 
endeavored  to  point  out  that  the  operations  of 
criticism  properly  so  called,  affecting  as  they  do 
the  literary  form  of  the  books,  leave  the  questions 
of  substance,  namely,  those  of  history,  miracle,  and 
revelation,  substantially  where  they  found  them. 
I  shall,  in  some  of  the  succeeding  chapters,  strive 
to  show,  at  least  by  specimens,  that  science  and 


OF  HOL  Y  SCRIPTURE, 


35 


research  have  done  much  to  sustain  the  historical 
credit  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament :  that  in 
doing  this  they  have  added  strength  to  the  argu- 
ment which  contends  that  in  them  we  find  a  divine 
revelation :  and  that  the  evidence,  rationally  viewed, 
both  of  contents  and  of  results,  binds  us  to  stand 
where  our  forefathers  have  stood,  upon  the  im- 
pregnable rock  of  Holy  Scripture. 


II. 

THE  CREATION  STORY. 

"  The  nsing  birth 
Of  Nature  from  the  unapparent  deep." 

Paradise  Lost,  B.  VII. 

As  respects  the  general  character  of  the  narrative 
which  I  have  called  the  Creation  Stor>^  I  begin  by 
reminding  the  reader  that  it  has  awakened  the 
warm  admiration  of  many  who  refuse  to  allow  to 
it  a  divine  origin. 

Hackel,  in  his  "History  of  Creation,"  excludes 
entirely  the  idea  of  revelation.  He  also  says  (I 
think  incorrectly)  that  the  Mosaic  narrative  erro- 
neously asserts  the  earth  to  be  the  central  point  of 
the  whole  universe;  and  again,  that  man  was  the 
final  aim  of  the  creation  of  the  earth.  But  upon 
the  narrative  he  bestows  a  high  eulogium.  "Two 
great  and  fundamental  ideas,  common  also  to  the 

non-miraculous  theory  of  development,  meet  us  in 
36 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


37 


this  Mosaic  hypothesis  of  creation,  with  surprising 
clearness  and  simplicity:  the  idea  of  separation  or 
differentiatioti,  and  the  idea  of  progressive  develop- 
ment or  perfecting.  Although  Moses  looks  upon 
the  results  of  the  great  laws  of  organic  develop- 
ment (which  we  shall  later  point  out  as  the  neces- 
sary conclusions  of  the  doctrine  of  Descent)  as  the 
direct  actions  of  a  Constructing  Creator,  yet  in  his 
theory  there  lies  hidden  the  ruling  idea  of  a  pro- 
gressive development  of  the  originally  simple  mat- 
ter. We  can  therefore  bestow  our  just  and  sincere 
admiration  on  the  Jewish  lawgiver's  grand  insight 
into  Nature,  and  his  simple  and  natural  hypothesis 
of  creation,  without  discovering  in  it  a  so-called 
"divine  revelation."^  The  negative  unequivocally 
conveyed  in  the  last  words  of  this  remarkable  pas- 
sage embodies  the  very  question  which  I  now  seek 
to  try  upon  the  evidence  before  us. 

In  recent  controversies  on  the  trustworthiness  of 
the  Scripture  record,  much  has  been  thought  to 

I  From  the  translation  of  Hackel's  "  History  of  Creation,"  Lon- 
don, 1876,  Chap.  II.  p.  33.  So  Professor  F.  P.  Lesley,  in  the  Forum 
(New  York)  for  October,  1890,  at  p.  211,  eulogizes  the  pre-Abrahamic 


38 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y, 


turn  on  the  Creation  Story;  an  J  the  special  and 
separate  importance  thus  attached  to  it  has  given 
it  a  separate  and  prominent  position  in  the  public 
view.  This  constitutes  in  itself  a  reason  for  address- 
ing ourselves  at  once  to  the  consideration  of  it, 
apart  from  any  more  general  investigation  touch- 
ing either  the  older  Scriptures  at  large,  or  any  of 
the  books  which  collectively  compose  them. 

But  there  are  broader  and  deeper  reasons  for 
this  separate  consideration.  It  is  suggested,  first, 
by  the  form  which  has  been  given  to  the  relation 
itself  The  narrative,  given  with  wonderful  suc- 
cinctness in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Genesis 
and  in  the  first  three  verses  of  the  second  chapter, 
stands  distinct,  in  essential  points,  from  all  that 
follows  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  a  solitary  and  strik- 
ing example  of  the  detailed  exposition  of  physical 
facts.  For  such  an  example  we  must  suppose  a 
purpose ;  and  we  have  to  inquire  what  that  purpose 
was.     Next,  it  seems  as  it  were  to  trespass  on  the 

story  (at  the  same  time  pushing  negation  unto  its  highest  extrava- 
gance) as  "  a  product  of  the  genius  of  the  last  and  most  splendid  age 
of  the  nation,  just  before  its  dispersion  on  the  face  of  the  earth." 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


39 


ground  of  science,  and,  independently  of  investiga- 
tion and  of  evidence,  to  assert  a  rival,  nay,  a  para- 
mount authority.  And  further,  forming  no  part, 
unless  towards  its  close,  of  the  history  of  man,  and 
nowhere  touching  directly  on  human  action,  it 
severs  itself  from  the  rest  of  the  sacred  volume,  and 
at  first  sight  appears  rather  as  a  preface  to  the 
history  than  as  a  part  of  it. 

And  yet  there  are  signs,  in  subsequent  portions 
of  the  volume,  that  this  Tale  of  the  Creation  was 
regarded  by  the  Hebrews  as  both  authoritative  and 
important.  For  it  gave  form  and  shape  to  portions 
of  their  literature  in  the  central  department  of  its 
devotions.  Nay,  traces  of  it  may,  perhaps,  be  found 
in  the  Book  of  Job  (Job  38),  where  the  Almighty 
challenges  the  patriarch  on  the  primordial  works 
of  creation.  More  clearly  in  Psalm  104,  where  we 
have  light,  the  firmament,  the  waters  and  their 
severance  and  confinement  within  bounds ;  a  suc- 
cession the  same  as  in  Genesis.  Then  follow 
mixedly  the  animal  and  vegetable  creations,  and 
man  as  the  climax  crowns  the  series  in  verse  23. 


40 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


So  in  Psalm  148  we  have  first  (1-6)  the  heavens, 
the   heavenly  bodies,  and  the  atmosphere;  then, 
again  mixedly,  the  earth  and  the  agents  affecting 
it,  with  the  animate  population  (7-10),  and  lastly 
man.      If  there  be  some  variations  in  the  order  of 
the  details,  still  the  idea  of  consecutive  develop- 
ment, or  evolution,  which  struck  so  forcibly  the 
intelligence  of  Hackel,  is  clearly  impressed  upon 
the  whole.     At  a  later  date,  and  only  (so  far  as  is 
known)  in  the  Greek  tongue,  we  find  a  more  nearly 
exact  resemblance  in  the  Song  of  the  Three  Chil- 
dren.    The  heavenly  bodies  and  phenomena  occupy 
the  first  division  ot  the  Song;  then  the  earth  is 
invoked  to  bless  the   Lord,   with   its   mountains, 
vegetation,  and  waters ;  then  the  animate  popula- 
tion of  water,  air,  and  land  follows  in  the  order 
pursued  by  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis;  while,  as  in 
Genesis,  there  is  no  separate  mention  of  the  great 
kingdom  of  the  Reptiles.    Then  follow  the  children 
of  men ;  and  these  fill  the  closing  portion  of  the 
Song.     The  most   noteworthy  di/Tferences  (which, 
however,  are  quite  secondary)  seem  to  be  that  there 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


41 


is  no  mention  of  the  first  beginnings  of  vegetation, 
and  no  supplemental  notice,  as  in  Genesis  i:  24-30, 
of  any  reptiles. 

But  also  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  which  are  cate- 
gorically placed  later  in  Genesis  than  vegetation, 
precede  in  the  Song  any  notice  of  the  earth.  Let 
not  this  difference  be  hastily  called  a  discrepancy. 
Each  mode  is  to  be  explained  by  considering  the 
character  and  purpose  of  the  composition.  In 
Genesis,  it  is  a  narrative  of  the  action ;  in  the  Song, 
it  is  a  panorama  of  the  spectacle.  Genesis,  as  a 
rule,  refers  each  of  the  great  factors  of  the  visible 
world  to  its  due  order  of  origin  in  time ;  the  Song 
enumerates  the  particulars  as  they  are  presented 
to  the  eye  in  a  picture,  where  the  transcendent 
eminence  of  the  heavenly  bodies  as  they  are,  and 
especially  of  the  sun,  gives  to  this  group  a  proper 
priority.  Each  co-ordination  would  have  been 
improper  in  the  other  place,  but  is  proper  in  its 
own. 

But  a  yet  more  remarkable  proof  of  the  influence 
exercised  by  this  great  chapter  is  found  in  the  fact 


42 


THE  CREATION  STORY, 


that  it  conveyed  to  the  Hebrews  the  idea  of  Crea- 
tion pure  and  simple. 

But  this  Creation  Story  may  have  an  importance 
for  us  even  greater  than  it  had  for  the  Hebrews ;  nay, 
greater  than  it  could  have  in  any  of  those  ages 
when  all  men  believed,  perhaps  even  too  freely,  in 
special  modes  of  communication  from  the  Deity  to 
man,  and  had  not  a  stock  of  courage  or  of  audacity 
sufficient  to  question  the  possibility  of  a  divine 
revelation.  For  we  have  now  to  bear  in  mind  that 
the  Book  of  Genesis  generally  contains  a  portion 
of  human  history,  and  that  all  human  history  is  a 
record  of  human  experience.  It  is  not  so  with  the 
introductory  recital ;  for  the  contents  of  it  lie  out- 
side of,  and  anterior  to,  the  very  earliest  human 
experience.  How  came,  then,  this  recital  into  the 
possession  of  a  portion  of  mankind  ? 

It  is  conceivable  that  a  theory  of  Creation,  and  of 
the  ordering  of  the  world,  might  be  bodied  forth  in 
poetry,  or  might,  under  given  circumstances,  be,  as 
now,  based  on  the  researches  of  natural  science. 

But,  in  the  first  place,  this  recital  cannot  be  due 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


43 


to  the  mere  imagination  of  a  poet.  It  is  in  a  high 
degree,  considering  its  brevity,  methodical  and 
elaborate.  And  there  is  nothing  either  equaling 
or  within  many  degrees  approaching  it,  which  can 
be  set  down  to  the  account  of  poetry  in  other 
spheres  of  primitive  antiquity,  whatever  their  poeti- 
cal opulence  may  have  been.  Further,  the  early 
Hebrews  do  not  appear  to  have  cultivated  or  de- 
veloped any  poetical  faculty  at  all,  until  we  come 
down  to  that  which  was  exhibited  in  strictly  reli- 
gious work,  such  as  the  devotions  of  the  Psalms, 
and  (principally)  the  discourses  and  addresses  of 
the  Prophets. 

As  they  were  not,  in  a  general  sense,  poetical,  so 
neither  were  they  in  any  sense  scientific.  By  tradi- 
tion, and  by  positive  records,  we  know  pretty  well 
what  kinds  of  knowledge  were  pursued  in  veiy  early 
ages.  They  were  most  strictly  practical.  Take, 
for  example,  astronomy  among  the  Chaldees,  or 
medicine  among  the  Egyptians.  The  necessities 
of  life  then,  as  now,  pressed  upon  man.  We  may 
say  with  much  confidence  that  in  remote  antiquity 


44 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y, 


45 


there  existed  no  science  like  geology,  aiming  to 
give  a  history  of  the  earth.  So,  again,  there  was  no 
cosmogony,  professing  to  convey  a  history  of  the 
kosmos,  as  it  was  then  understood;  which  would 
have  included,  together  with  the  earth,  the  sun, 
moon,  planets,  and  atmosphere. 

When,  at  a  later  date,  speculation  on  physical 
origins  began,  it  was  rather  on  the  primary  idea 
than  on  any  systematic  arrangement  or  succession. 
With  the  Ionic,  which  was  the  earliest  school  of 
philosophy,  the    human   intelligence   was    mainly 
busied  in  contending  for  one  or  other  of  the  known 
material  elements,  as  entitled  to  the  honors  of  the 
primordial  cause.     Nor  had  even  the  Greeks  or 
Romans  formulated  any  scheme  in  any  degree  ap- 
proaching that  of  Genesis  for  order  and  method,  so 
late  as  the  time  when  they  became  acquainted  with 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  through  their  translation 
into   Greek.     The   opening  statement  of  Ovid  in 
the  "  Metamorphoses  "  is  remarkable ;  *  but  at  the 

1  Ov.  "  Met."  I.,  1-31.  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  verses  which 
follow  (32-88).  where  the  poet  adheres  less  closely  to  the  lines  of 
Genesis,  he  also  travels  farther  from  scientific  results. 


time  when  he  wrote,  the  Book  of  Genesis  had  long 
been  accessible  to  educated  persons  in  what  was 
then  the  chief  literary  language  of  the  Romans. 
There  is  not,  then,  the  smallest  ground  for  treating 
the  Mosaic  cosmogony,  whether  in  the  way  of 
original  or  copy,  as  the  offspring  of  scientific 
inquiry. 

Again,  to  speak  of  it  as  guesswork  would  be 
irrational.  There  were  no  materials  for  guessing. 
There  was  no  purpose  to  be  served  by  guessing. 
For  a  record  of  the  formation  of  the  world  we  find 
no  purpose  in  connection  with  the  ordinary  neces- 
sities or  conveniences  of  life.  Not  to  mention  that, 
down  to  this  day,  there  exists  no  cosmogony  which 
can  be  strictly  called  scientific,  though  there  are 
theories  both  ingenious  and  beautiful,  which  appar- 
ently are  coming  to  be  more  and  more  accepted ; 
these,  however,  being  of  an  origin  decidedly  late 
even  in  the  history  of  modern  physics. 

But,  further, as  the  Tale  of  Creation  is  not  poetry 
nor  is  it  science,  so  neither,  according  to  its  own 
aspect  or  profession,  is  it  theory  at  all.    The  method 


46 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


here  pursued  is  that  of  historical  recital.     The  per- 
son, who  composes  or  transmits  it,  seems  to  believe, 
and  to  intend  others  to  believe,  that  he  is  dealincr 
with  matters  of  fact.    But  these  matters  of  fact  were, 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  altogether  inaccessible 
to  inquiry,  and  impossible  to  obtain  by  our  ordinary 
mental  faculties  of  perception  or  reflection,  inas- 
much as  they  da^-e  before  the  creation  of  our  race. 
If  it  is,  as  it  surely  professes  to  be,  a  serious  con- 
veyance  of  truth,  it  can  only  be  a  communication 
from  the  Most  High;  a  communication  to  man  and 
for  the  use  of  man,  therefore  in  a  form  adapted  to 
his  mind  and  to  his  use.      If,  thus  considered,  it  is 
true,  then  it  carries  stamped  upon  it  the  proof  of  a 
divine  revelation;  an  assertion  which  cannot  com- 
monly be  sustained  from  the  nature  of  the  contents 
as  to  this  or  that  minuter  portion  of  Scripture  at 
large. 

If,  when  thus  considered,  it  proves  not  to  be 
true,  we  then  have  to  consider  what  account  of  it  we 
are  in  a  condition  to  give.  I  cannot  say  that  to  me 
this  appears  an  easy  undertaking.     "  If,"  says  Pro- 


T//E  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


47 


fessor  Dana  with  much  reason,  "  it  be  true  that  the 
narration  in  Genesis  has  no  support  in  natural 
science,  it  would  have  been  better  for  its  religious 
character  that  all  the  verses  between  the  first  and 
those  on  the  creation  of  man  had  been  omit- 
ted." ^ 

It  has  indeed  been  advanced  by  some,  as  a  mode 
of  obviating  any  difficulty  arising  from  supposed 
conflict  with  scientific  results,  that  the  credit  of 
Holy  Scripture  is  not  involved  in  statements  which 
have  reference  to  physical  adjustments,  but  only  in 
moral  or  spiritual  subject-matter  and  purpose;  to 
which,  as  a  revelation  from  God,  it  is  exclusively 
related. 

This  is  a  highly  important  proposition ;  especially 
when  it  is  considered  that  we  are  professors  of  a 
religion  which  rests  not  so  much  on  abstract  princi- 
ples, as  on  matters  of  fact.  It  may  be  true  that  the 
Bible  is  not  a  revelation  upon  physics ;  and  yet  it 
may  be  also  true  that  physical  facts  may  stand  in 
immediate  connection  with  other  facts  in  the  high- 

*  ••  Creation."     By  Professor  Dana.     Oberlin,  O.,  1S85 ;  p.  202. 


48 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y, 


est  sense  moral  and  spiritual,  and  that  this  connec- 
tion cannot  be  severed.      Let  us  suppose  a  case 
such  as  the  Incarnation,  or  the  Resurrection.    Here 
there  is  a  spiritual  power  declared  to  have  been  at 
work,  which  lies  at  the  very  heart  of  our  religion  ; 
but  its  operation  issues  in  a  physical  fact.     In  such 
cases  the  credit  of  the  revelation  is  attached  to 
a  physical   fact,  because   that    fact  is  inseparable 
from  the  revelation  itself.   It  is  plain,  therefore,  that 
the  proposition   cannot   be  accepted    in    its    full 
breadth.     It  has  at  once  to  undergo  an  important 
limitation,  and  to    be   confined   to   physical   facts 
which  are  not  annexed  to  a  moral  or  spiritual  pur- 
pose.     But  then  arises  the  further  question,  are 
there,  in  the  Holy  Bible,  apart  from  mere  phrases 
and   forms  of  expression,  any  announcements  of 
physical  fact,  except  such  as  are  associated  with  a 
purpose  of  that  nature? 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  we  have  not  now 
to  do  with  errors  incidental  to  transmission  or 
translation.  Or  with  the  use  of  poetical  figure, 
such  as  when  it  is  said  that  "  God  is  gone  up  with 


i  I 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


A9 


a  shout"  (Psa.  47  :  5).     Nor  with  familiar  phrases 
which  have  only  a  relative  truth,  such  as  the  sun- 
rise and  the  sunset.     Nor  with  the  case  of  parable, 
such  as  the  magnificent  vision  of  the  dry  bones  in 
Ezekiel :  for,  in  a  parable,  no  truth  is  understood  to 
be  conveyed  in  the  parts,  but  only  in  their  relation 
to   one  another.     In  none  of  these  cases,  speak- 
ing generally,  do  we  understand  the  sacred  writer 
to  be  recording  matters  of  fact.     It  may  almost 
be  said  that  it  is  of  the  nature  of  a  parable  to  be 
allegorical,  that  is  to  say  to  borrow  its  particulars 
from  a  foreign    subject-matter.     If  so,  the  great 
chapter  which  opens  the  Bible  would  be  a  strangely 
incongruous  parable,  for  there  is  no  lesson  to  be 
taught  except  the  lesson  that  is  conveyed  in  and 
by  the  particulars  themselves. 

It  will  be  generally  felt  that  none  of  the  parallels 
or  illustrations  which  have  been  cited  will  avail  for 
the  purpose  of  covering  the  Creation  Story,  which 
forms  in  itself  an  elaborate  and  carefully  con- 
structed whole,  dealing  throughout  with  matters  of 
fact,  and  bearing  every   mark  that  as  a  whole  it 


\ 


t-*JMl*lii''>l^"*-'""SJ«'  ■  *■" 


50 


THE  CREATION  STORY. 


was  meant  by  those  who  recorded  it  to  be  beh'eved. 
I  will  presently  endeavor  to  show  its  inseparable 
association  with  moral  and  religious  purpose.  At 
present  I  will  only  contend  that  if  we  found  physical 
expositions  of  this  kind  in  Scripture  which  were 
not  thus  associated  we  should  have  to  ask  ourselves 
how  and  why  they  came  there;  and  should,  with 
Professor  Dana,  wish  them  away. 

If  then  there  be  difficulties  presented  to  us,  as  I 
admit  that  of  late  years  has  been  extensively  sup- 
posed, I  for  one  must  decline  to  accept  a  mode  of 
escape  which  is  hardly  susceptible  of  definition,  and 
which  will  hardly  bear  a  close  examination.     We 
may  find  a  happier  issue  to  the  argument  in  the 
truth,  as  well  as  the  majesty,  of  the  narrative  itself 
But  the  truth,  or  trueness,  of  which  I  speak,  is 
truth  or  trueness  as  conveyed  to  and  comprehended 
by  the  mind  of  man;  and,  further,  by  the  mind  of 
man  in  a  comparatively  untrained  and  infant  state. 
I  cannot,  indeed,  wholly  shut  out  from  view  the 
possibility  that  casual  imperfections  may  have  crept 
into  the  record.     Setting  aside,  however,  that  possi- 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


51 


bility,  let  us  consider  the  conditions  of  the  case,  in 
its  heart  and  substance,  as  they  are  exhibited  to  us 
by  reasonable  likelihood;  for,  if  the  communication 
were  divine,  we  may  be  certain  that  it  would  on 
that  account  be  all  the  more  strictly  governed  by 
the  laws  of  the  reasonable. 

In  an  address^  of  smgular  ability,  on  "  The  Dis- 
cord and  Harmony  between  Science  and  the  Bible," 
Dr.  Smith,  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  has  drawn 
some  very  important  distinctions.  In  the  depart- 
ment of  natural  science,  and  in  the  department  of 
Scriptural  record,  the  question  lies  "  between  the 
present  interpretation  of  certain  parts  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  and  the  present  interpretation  of  certain 
parts  of  nature." 2  "We  must  not  too  hastily  as- 
sume that  either  of  these  interpretations  is  absolute 
and  final."  "  The  science  of  one  epoch  is  to  a  large 
extent  a  help,  which  the  science  of  the  next  uses 
and  abandons."  Dr.  Smith  points  out  as  an  exam- 
ple that,  down  to  the  early  part  of  the  present  cen- 

1  New  York :  Hatcham.    The  Address  is  dated  July  27,  1882. 

*  /did.,  p.  3. 


52 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


tury,  Newton's  projectile  theory  of  light  seemed  to 
be  firmly  established,  but  that  it  has  given  place  to 
the  theory  of  undulation,  "which  has  now  for  fifty 
years  reigned  in  its  stead."     Hence,  he  observes, 
we  should  not  be  too  much  elated  by  the  discovery 
of  harmonies,  nor  should  we  receive  with  impatience 
the  assertion  of  contradictions.     Throughout,  it  is 
probable,   and  not    demonstrative,  evidence   with 
which  we  are  dealing.     There  should  always  be  a 
certain  element  of  reserve  in  our  judgments  on  par- 
ticulars ;  yet  probable  evidence  may  come  indefi- 
nitely near  to  demonstration ;  and  even  as,  while  fall- 
ing greatly  short  of  it,  it  may  morally  bind  us  to 
action,  so  may  it,  on  precisely  the  same  principles, 
bind  us  to  belief.     What  we  have  to  do  is,  to  deal 
with  the  evidence  before  us  according  to  a  rational 
appreciation  of  its  force.     It  may  show  on  this  or 
that  particular  question  the  concord,  or  it  may  show 
the  discord,  between  alleged  facts  of  nature  and 
alleged  interpretations  of  Scripture ;  or  it  may  leave 
the  question  open,  for  want  of  sufficient  evidence, 
either  way,  on  which  to  ground  a  conclusion. 


TJ/E  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


53 


It  is  by  these  principles,  and  under  these  limita- 
tions, that  L  desire  to  see  the  question  tried  in  the 
terms  in  which  I  think  it  ought  to  be  stated; 
namely,  not  whether  the  recitals  in  Genesis  at  each 
and  every  point  have  an  accurately  scientific  form, 
but  whether  the  detailed  statements  of  the  Creation 
Story,  as  a  whole,  appear  to  stand  in  such  a  rela- 
tion to  the  facts  of  natural  science,  so  far  as  they 
have  been  ascertained,  as  to  warrant  or  require  our 
concluding  that  the  statements  have  proceeded,  in 
a  manner  above  the  ordinary  manner,  from  the  Au- 
thor  of  the  creation  itself.^ 

Those  who  maintain  the  affirmative  of  this  propo- 
sition have,  by  opponents,  been  termed  Reconcilers; 
and  it  is  convenient,  in  a  controverted  matter,  to 
have  the  power  of  reference,  by  a  single  word,  to 
the  proposers  of  any  given  opinion.     The  same 

»  See  the  attractive  paper  of  Professor  Pritchard.  in  his  "  Occasional 
Thoughts,"  Murray,  1889.  He  says,  on  p.  261,  "  I  cannot  accept  the 
Proem  as  being,  or  even  as  intended  to  be,  an  exact  and  scientific 
account  of  Creation,"  but  adds  that  it  "contains  within  it  elements  of 
that  same  sort  of  superhuman  aid  or  superintendence,  which  is  gene^ 
rally  understood  by  the  undefined  term  of  inspiration" 


54 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


rule  01  convenience  may  perhaps  justify  me  in  des- 
ignating those  who  would  assert  the  negative  by 
the  name  of  Contradictionists.     The  recorder  of  the 
Creation  Story  in  Genesis  I  may  designate  by  the 
name  of  Moses  himself,  or  the  Mosaist,  or  the  Mo- 
saic writer.     This  would  not  be  reasonable,  if  there 
were  anything  extravagant  in  the  supposition  that 
there  is  a  groundwork  of  fact  for  the  tradition  which 
treats  Moses  as  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch.    But 
such  a  supposition,  in  whole  or  in  part,  is  sustained 
by  many  and  strong  presumptions,  and  I  bear  in 
mind  that  even  the  modern  criticism  does  not  always 
refuse  to  acknowledge  that  there  is  a  strong  Mosaic 
element  in  the  Pentateuch.' 

It  does  not  seem  too  much  to  say,  that  the  con- 
veyance of  scientific  instruction  as  such  would  not, 
under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  be  a  reason- 
able object  for  the  Mosaic  writer  of  this  chapter  to 
pursue;  for  the  condition  of  primitive  man,  as  it  is 

hAvnt'  "  ^'"'f  ""£  '"  das  Alte  Testament  (1878),  sec.  ,8  ;  edited 
by  Wellhausen,  who  contributes  introductory  sections  (1-3)  and  other 
pass..ges,  sometimes  of  dissent,  without  expressing  any  dissent  from 
this  fundamental  proposition. 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


55 


,l 


portrayed  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  did  not  require, 
perhaps  did  not  admit  of,  scientific  instruction.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  could  not  but  be  a  reasonable 
object  then  to  convey  to  the  mind  of  man,  such  as 
he  actually  was,  a  moral  lesson  drawn  from  and 
founded  on  that  picture,  that  assemblage  of  created 
objects,  which  was  before  his  eyes,  and  with  which 
he  lived  in  perpetual  contact.  We  have,  indeed,  to 
consider  both  what  lesson  it  would  be  most  rational 
to  convey,  and  by  what  method  it  would  be  most 
rational  to  stamp  it,  as  a  living  lesson,  on  the  mind 
by  which  it  was  to  be  received.  And  the  question 
finally  to  be  decided  is  not,  whether,  according  to 
the  present  state  of  knowledge,  the  recital  in  the 
Book  of  Genesis  is  at  each  several  point  altogether 
precise  or  complete.  It  may  be  like  the  construc- 
tion of  the  human  eye,  which  is  said  not  to  con- 
form with  absolute  strictness  to  the  pure  theory  of 
science,  but  which  is  still  held  to  be  the  construction 
best  adapted  to  the  service  which  the  organ  has  to 
perform.  It  may  here  be  general,  there  particular; 
it  may  here  describe  a  continuous  process,  and  it 


/ 


56 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


may  there   make   large   omissions,  if  the  things 
omitted  were  either  absolutely  or  comparatively 
immaterial  to  its  purpose;  it  may  be  careful  of  the 
actual  succession  in  time,  or  may  deviate  from  it, 
according  as  the  one  or  the  other  best  subserved 
the  general  and  principal  aim;   so  that  the  true 
question,  I  must  repeat,  is  no  more  than  this :  Do 
the  propositions  of  the  Creation  Story  in  Genesis 
appear  to  stand  in  such  a  relation  to  the  facts  of 
natural  science,  so  far  as  they  are  ascertained,  as  to 
warrant  or  require  our  concluding  that  these  propo- 
sitions proceeded,  in  a  manner  above  the  ordinary 
manner,  from  the  Author  of  the  visible  creation  ? 

What,  then,  may  we  conceive  to  have  been  the 
moral  and  spiritual  lessons  which  the  Mosaist  had  to 
communicate,  and  not  only  to  communicate,  but  to 
infuse  or  to  impress  ?     I  do  not  presume  to  attempt 
an  exhaustive  enumeration.     But  it  is  not  difficult 
to  specify  a  variety  of  purposes  which  the  narrative 
was  calculated  to  promote,  and  which  were  of  great 
and  obvious  value  for  the  education  of  mankind. 
Some   important  distinctions  have  to  be  drawn 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


S7 


between  the  first  verse  of  the  chapter,  and  the  nar- 
rative which  follows.     Much  of  that  narrative  falls 
within  the  compass  of  the  thought  of  man.     It  also 
may  be  said  to  fall  within  the  sphere  of  his  experi- 
ence; inasmuch  as  the  facts  of  the  material  creation 
are  before  us.     Reasoning  upon  them,  with  various 
degrees  of  probability  or  certainty  we  travel  on 
parallel  lines  with  the  Mosaic  story,  and  have  to 
examine  whether  what  we  thus  learn  confirms  or 
impugns  it.     These  considerations  do  not  apply  to 
the  sublime  announcements  conveyed  in  the  first 
verse  of  the  chapter.     Creation  in  itself  is  eminently 
(to  use  a  modern  phrase)  unthinkable.     And  it  can- 
not be  tested  or  called  to  account  by  any  knowl- 
edge we  have  obtained,  or  may  obtain,  of  things 
created,  being  essentially  anterior  to  them  all.    The 
more  we  contemplate,  the  more  we  examine,  this 
proem  to  the  Book  of  Genesis,  the  more  we  shall 
perceive  it  to  be  the  great  foundation-chapter  of 
the  entire  Scripture,  New  as   well  as    Old.     But 
the  first  verse  seems  to  be  the  foundation  of  this 
foundation-chapter.     We  may  well  ask,  why  it  is 


* 


[iM 


tSM 


'  I;  JinUtutm^ti^i  {»»><' ..^ 


|-llfe«i-»^i..r«.--.-.  MikLi^i 


56 


THE  CREATION  STORY. 


may  there  make  large  omissions,  if  the  things 
omitted  were  either  absolutely  or  comparaUvely 
immaterial  to  its  purpose;  it  may  be  careful  of  the 
actual  succession  in  time,  or  may  deviate  from  it. 
according  as  the  one  or  the  other  best  subserved 
the  general  and  principal  aim;  so  that  the  true 
question,  I  must  repeat,  is  no  more  than  this :  Do 
the  propositions  of  the  Creation  Story  in  Genesis 
appear  to  stand  in  such  a  relation  to  the  facts  of 
natural  science,  so  far  as  they  are  ascertained,  as  to 
warrant  or  require  our  concluding  that  these  propo- 
sitions proceeded,  in  a  manner  above  the  ordinary 
manner,  from  the  Author  of  the  visible  creation  ? 

What,  then,  may  we  conceive  to  have  been  the 
moral  and  spiritual  lessons  which  the  Mosaist  had  to 
communicate,  and  not  only  to  communicate,  but  to 
infuse  or  to  impress  ?     I  do  not  presume  to  attempt 
an  exhaustive  enumeration.     But  it  is  not  difficult 
to  specify  a  variety  of  purposes  which  the  narrative 
was  calculated  to  promote,  and  which  were  of  great 
and  obvious  value  for  the  education  of  mankind. 
Some   important  distinctions  have  to  be  drawn 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


57 


between  the  first  verse  of  the  chapter,  and  the  nar- 
rative which  follows.     Much  of  that  narrative  falls 
within  the  compass  of  the  thought  of  man.    It  also 
may  be  said  to  fall  within  the  sphere  of  his  experi- 
ence; inasmuch  as  the  facts  of  the  material  creation 
are  before  us.     Reasoning  upon  them,  with  various 
degrees  of  probability  or  certainty  we  travel  on 
parallel  lines  with  the  Mosaic  story,  and  have  to 
examine  whether  what  we  thus  learn  confirms  or 
impugns  it     These  considerations  do  not  apply  to 
the  sublime  announcements  conveyed  in  the  first 
verse  of  the  chapter.     Creation  in  itself  is  eminentiy 
(to  use  a  modern  phrase)  unthinkable.    And  it  can- 
not be  tested  or  called  to  account  by  any  knowl- 
edge we  have  obtained,  or  may  obtain,  of  things 
created,  being  essentially  anterior  to  them  all.    The 
more  we  contemplate,  the  more  we  examine,  this 
proem  to  the  Book  of  Genesis,  the  more  we  shall 
perceive  it  to  be  the  great  foundation-chapter  of 
the  entire  Scripture,  New  as   well  as   Old.     But 
the  first  verse  seems  to  be  the  foundation  of  this 
foundation-chapter.     We  may  well  ask,  why  it  is 


58 


THE  CMEA  TION  STOR  Y. 


that  the  objections  of  the  sceptical  school,  covered 
with  the  name  and  the  profession  of  natural  science, 
have  been  taken  in  detail  to  geological  or  biological 
particulars,  and  have  not  been  aimed  at  the  chal- 
lenge conveyed  in  the  opening  words : 
"In  the  beginning,  God  created  the  heavens 

AND   THE   earth." 

For  here  is  enunciated  a  proposition  of  which  it 
may  be  justly  said  that,  if  it  be  false,  we  have  no 
need  either  to  impugn  it  or  to  defend  the  statements 
of  a  document  discredited  ab  initio.     But  on  the 
other  hand  that,  if  it  be  true,  its  truth  includes  in 
principle  and  carries  along  with  it  the  truth  of  all 
those    statements  of  the  Holy   Scriptures   which 
most   seriously    strain    the    enfeebled    faculty   of 
modern  belief,  for  there  is  no  conceivable  manipu- 
lation of,  or  transaction    with,   matter,   neariy   so 
marvellous  as  the  stupendous  conception  of  calling 
it  out  of  nothing  into  existence.     This  idea,  made 
familiar  by  revelation  to  Jews  and  Christians,  was 
the   one  idea   that   the   unaided  intellect  of  man 
proved  totally  incompetent  to  conceive.     Of  rela- 


THE  CREA  riON  STOR  Y. 


59 


tions  between  matter  and  spirit,  and  of  every  sort 
of  change  ensuing  upon  those  relations,  it  could 
conceive  in  a  measure,  and  that  readily  enough ; 
but  to  the  idea  of  pure  and  sheer  creation  it  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  at  any  time  able  to  ascend. 
Why  should  belief  in  the  transformation  of  water 
into  wine  be  difficult  for  those  who  believe  already 
that  there  was  once  a  condition  of  things,  when 
none  of  the  elements  out  of  which  each  is  com- 
pounded had  any  existence  at  all  ?  And  we  may 
observe  that,  in  this  matter  of  creation,  there  is  no 
room  for  the  fallacy  often  applied  to  the  things 
which  God  did  not  (as  such)  create,  but  only  made : 
the  fallacy  which  beguiles  men  into  thinking  that 
by  graduating  a  process  we  alter  its  essential  char- 
acter, and  into  thus  establishing  a  false  antithesis 
between  evolutionary  and  creative  power.  One 
single  step  in  the  work  of  creating  out  of  nothing  is 
equal  to  a  thousand.  It  is  an  operation  unfathom- 
able in  idea,  but  so  definite  in  result  that  it  stands 
ever  before  us  in  its  virgin  integrity.  It  must  be 
accepted  or  refused :  it  cannot  be  tampered  with. 


6o 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


And  if  accepted  it  draws  after  it,  as  far  as  regards 
possibility,  not  only  what  may  be  called  the  minor 
miracles   of    Scripture,    but   also    those    greatest 
miracles  which  are  the  corner  stones  of  the  Chris- 
tian Creed,  the  Resurrection,  and,  above  all,  the 
Incarnation.     He,  who  calls  out  of  nothing  both 
matter  and  life,  must  surely  be  beyond  questioning 
by  us  as  to  the  conditions  which  his  wisdom  may 
be  pleased  to  establish  between  them  and  his  own 
Divine  Essence,  or  the  manner  in  which  he  may 
determine  to  impress  himself  upon  them.     Not  that 
such  high  processes  are  hereby  brought  within  the 
reach  of  our  understanding,  for  no  one  of  the  count- 
less operations  either  of  material   or    immaterial 
change  can  radically  enter   within   those  narrow 
bounds:  but  no  rational  objection  can  lie  against 
them  from  those  who  have  already  admitted  into 
their  categories  of  belief  what  lies  above  and  be- 
yond them  all.     Thus,  then,   the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  is  the  foundation-chapter  of  the  Bible,  and 
the  first  verse  is  its  foundation-verse. 

Let  us  now  pass  on  to  the  detailed  narrative. 


T//E  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


6i 


I  have  said  that  the  mind  of  man  did  not,  by  its 
unaided  powers,  ascend  to  the  idea  of  creation  out 
of  nothing.  This  conception,  maintained  all  along 
by  the  Jewish  and  the  Christian  tradition,  has  be- 
come to  us  part  of  the  very  alphabet  of  religious 
thought,  and  taken  its  place  among  those  ele- 
mentary and  familiar  ideas  which,  like  certain  vital 
functions  of  the  body,  remain  within  our  knowl- 
edge, but  pass  beyond  our  habitual  consciousness. 
Yet  this  idea,  now  the  property  of  "  babes  and 
sucklings,"  was  entirely  beyond  the  competency  of 
the  most  instructed  heathen  to  embrace.  Not  only 
before,  but  after,  the  publication  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  to  the  world  through  the  vehicle  of  the 
Greek  language,  the  mind  of  cultivated  man  failed 
to  grasp  the  idea  of  Creation,  and  was  unable  to 
advance  beyond  the  manipulation  of  pre-existing 
matter.  It  seems  obvious  that  Ovid,  when  he  wrote 
the  proem  to  his  Metamorphoses,  had  himself  been 
drawing,  whether  directly  or  through  others,  from 
the  Septuagint.  He  evidently  conceives  the  first 
making  of  the  world  to  have  been  only  a  modifica- 


62 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


tion  of  forms,  and  hence  finds  it  to  be  an  appropriate 
preamble  to  the  scries  of  transformations  which  fur- 
nished the  subject  of  his  poem.     And  hence  the 
Greek  tongue,  with  all  its  wealth  and  resource,  had 
no   word   to   express    creating    as   distinct    from 
moulding,  shaping,  or  framing;  and  while  our  Bible, 
following  the  Hebrew  in  its  primitive  record,  tells' 
us  (Gen.  2:3)  that  God   rested   from  "all  he  had 
created  and  made,"  the  Greek  version  drops   the 
distinction,  and  speaks  only  of  the  things  that  he 
fashioned.     But,  on  the  one  hand,  if  our  translators 
have  been  faithful  to  their  original,  it  is  worthy  of 
remark   with   what   uniformity  the   sacred   books 
apply  the  word  ''create"  to  the  origin,  and  not  to 
any  mere  modification  of  existence.    And,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Greek  tongue  itself  applied  dis- 
tinctively one  of  its  own  words,  different  from  that 
which  signifies  moulding  or  fashioning,  to  discharge 
imperfectly  the  oflfice  which   is  perfectly  fulfilled 
(as  we  are  told)  by  the  Hebrew  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis. 

It  is  probable  that  that  chapter,  and  even  the 


-i^:imm^^m>m- 't<»~**t^s^wmm,Mmim,mm«mfiM 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


^l 


first  words  of  that  chapter,  are  absolutely  the 
parents  of  the  idea  of  Creation,  that  is  to  say  of 
summoning  into  existence:  unless  it  can  be  shown 
that  it  came  into  the  possession  of  man  from  some 
other  source  also.  Into  the  possession  of  the 
most  intellectual  and  cultivated  portion  of  man  we 
know  that  it  did  not  so  come.  And  I  own  it  ap- 
pears to  me  that  those  believers  in  revelation  who 
depose  the  opening  chapter  from  the  position  of 
authoritative  Scripture  because  it  relates  to  phys- 
ical matters,  place  themselves  in  this  dilemma,  that 
the  great  conception  of  Creation  properly  so  called, 
although  it  has  been  humanly  announced,  has 
never  been  revealed.  Yet  it  is  the  idea,  which  lies 
at  the  very  root  of  the  relation  between  the  Al- 
mighty and  mankind,  and  supplies  the  basis  and 
the  measure  of  the  duties  which  we  owe  to  the 
Fountain  of  our  being. 

Secondly,  it  is  plain  that  this  chapter  presented 
to  the  mind  of  man  the  fact  that  he  had  a  common 
origin  with  the  rest  of  Nature,  both  animate  and 
inanimate,  and  thereby  that  he  was  constituted  in 


64 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


a  definite  relation  to  all  created  things.     As  we 
know  through  subsequent  communications  from 
the  same  high  source,  this  is  a  relation  partly  of 
dominion.     But  is  of  dominion  regulated  by  duty  : 
and  duty  governing  our  conduct  generally  governs 
that  part  of  it  which  concerns  the  animal  creation 
by  an  appropriate  law.     We  are  to  use  those  which 
are  appointed  to  our  use,  whether  for  labor  or  for 
food,  with  the  obligation  to  avoid  excess  in  the 
one,  and  infliction  of  unnecessary  pain  in  the  other. 
We  are  to  destroy  those  which   are   noxious   to 
human    subsistence.     And   we   are  to   avoid  all 
wanton  injury,  as  to  the  greatest,  so  also  to  the 
least  among  them.     In  those  men  or  women  who 
are  by  nature  tenderly  disposed.  Nature  itself  may 
supply  the  needful  dispositions.     But  one  of  the 
sad  and  afflicting   incidents  in    our  nature  as   it 
actually  stands  is  the  widespread  proneness,  even 
in  childhood,  to  cruelty :  to  a  cruelty  not  syste- 
matic  or   reasoned,  but  what    may   be   termed   a 
cruelty  of  indifference,  which   treats   the   inferior 
creatures  as  without  any  interest  or  feeling  that 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


6S 


should  be  taken  into  account,  and  which  instinc- 
tively feels  delight  in  the  exercise  of  power  although 
without  an  object.  And  among  the  consequences 
probably  due  to  this  proclamation  of  fellowship 
between  man  and  beast  are  those  enactments  of 
the  Mosaic  law  which  make  provision  on  behalf  of 
laboring  animals.  "  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox 
when  he  treadeth  out  the  corn"  (Deut.  25  :  4). 
A  thing  probably  unexampled  in  the  early  history 
of  man. 

There  is,  however,  a  larger  sense  of  the  fellow- 
ship with  Nature  in  which  it  extends  to  the  in- 
animate, and  has  a  positive  and  no  longer  a  merely 
negative  character.     There  is  no  idea  I  think  more 
foreign  to  classical  literature  than  that  God  is  the 
God  of  animals  as  well  as  of  man,  and  the  God  of 
lifeless  nature  as  well  as  of  animals.     But   these 
noble   ideas   took   root  in  the  comparatively  un- 
developed  minds   of  the   Hebrews.     "The  lions, 
roaring  after  their  prey,  do  seek  their  meat  from 
God,"  and  "  When  thou  hidest  thy  face  they  are 

troubled;    when   thou   takest  away  their    breath 

5 


(£ 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


they  die,  and  are  turned  again  to  their  dust" 
(Psa.  104  :  21,  22).  Then  we  may  pass  to  things 
inanimate,  which  not  only  amaze,  but  also  gladden 
the  soul  of  the  Psalmist.  "Thou,  Lord,  hast  made 
me  glad  through  thy  works:  and  I  will  rejoice  in 
giving  praise  for  the  operations  of  thy  hands.  O 
Lord,  how  glorious  are  thy  works:  thy  thoughts 
are  very  deep."  And  again,  "  I  will  consider  thy 
heavens,  even  the  works  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon 
and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained"  (Psa. 
92  :  4,  5,  and  8  :  3).  Thus  the  train  of  ideas,  which 
flowed  downward  through  the  ages  from  the  great 
chapter,  opened  to  the  Hebrews  a  rich  treasury  of 
thoughts  by  placing  them  in  communion  with  uni- 
versal Nature,  a  great  book  of  God. 

And  it  is  a  singular  reflection  that  this  book  of 
Nature  was  opened  to  them  alone,  so  far  as  we 
know,  among  the  kindred  races  of  the  ancient 
world;  at  any  rate,  it  was  absolutely  closed  to  Greeks 
and  Romans  as  regarded  any  duty  or  piety  con- 
nected with  it.  Some  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to 
contend  that  the  ancients  of  the  two  classic  penin- 


T/TE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


^7 


sulas  had  no  perception  at  all  of  beauty  in  the 
landscapes,  which  were  so  lavishly  spread  before 
their  ^y^s.     And  if  this  statement  cannot  be  sus- 
tained in  its  full  breadth,^  yet  it  is  I  believe  undeni- 
able that  they  most  rarely  and  feebly  touched  that 
boundless  field  of  observation  which  has  not  only 
added  a  vast  department  to  modern  art,  but  has 
enriched  our  literature  in  prose  and  verse,  and  has 
found   food  for  the  nurture  of  such  a  genius  as 
Wordsworth,  never  to  be  forgotten  while  British 
poetry  holds  its  place  in  the  grateful  recollection 
of  our  race. 

It  was  not  then  for  nothing  that  primitive  tradi- 
tion was  directed  into  a  divergence  from  the  usual 
course  ordained  for  it,  and  that  in  this  one  place 
only  of  all  the  Bible  it  supplies  us  with  a  detailed 
and  systematic  statement  of  a  great  series  of 
physical  facts,  with  which  we  cannot  lightly  tamper, 
inasmuch  as  they  hold  on  to  high  educative  pur- 

*  We  seem  to  find  instances  in  Virgil  such  as  (probably)  in  Georg. 
II. ;  more  certainly  in  ^n.  I.  But  we  have  the  same  idea  conveyed 
a  thousand  or  more  years  before  Virgil  in  the  Odyssey  of  Homer 
(IV.  606)  with  reference  to  the  scenery  of  Ithaca. 


68 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


poses  closely  akin  to  the  general  aims  of  the  sacred 
volume. 

To  the  foregoing  considerations  we  may  subjoin 
some  further  lessons  conveyed  to  the  primitive  man 
by  the  Creation  Story  as  it  stands  in  Genesis. 

It  presented  to  his  mind,  and  by  means  of  detail 
made  him  know  and  feel,  what  was  the  beautiful 
and  noble  home  that  he  inhabited,  and  with  what  a 
fatherly  and  tender  care  Providence  had  prepared 
it  for  him  to  dwell  in.     There  was  a  picture  before 
his  eyes.     That  picture  was  filled  with  objects  of 
Nature,  animate  and  inanimate.     I  say,  one  of  its 
great  aims  may  have  been  to  make  him  know  and 
feel  by  means  of  detail ;   for  wholesale  teaching-, 
teaching  in  the  lump,  or  abstract  teaching,  mostly 
ineffective  even  now,  would  have  been  wholly  futile 
then.      It  was  needful  to  use  the  simplest  phrases, 
that  the  primitive  man  might  receive  a  conception, 
thoroughly  faithful  in  broad  outline,  of  what  his 
Maker  had  been  about  on  his  behalf    So  the  Maker 
condescends  to  partition  and  set  out  his  work,  in 
making  it  a  picture. 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


69 


But  He  proceeds  further  (and  this  is  the  climax) 
to  represent  himself  as  resting  after  it.  This 
declaration  is  in  no  conflict  with  any  scientific 
record.  It,  however,  implies  a  license  in  the  use 
of  language,  which  for  its  boldness  was  never  ex- 
ceeded in  any  interpretation,  reconciled  or  other, 
which  has  been  applied  to  any  part  of  the  text  of 
Genesis.  But  it  draws  its  ample  warrant  from  the 
strong  educative  lesson  that  is  to  be  learned  from 
it ;  for  it  invests  both  with  majesty  and  authority  the 
doctrine  of  a  day  of  rest.  Now,  this  doctrine  was 
of  the  highest  importance  to  the  higher  and  inner 
life  of  man,  while  it  was  one  which  the  daily  cares 
of  his  existence  were  but  too  likely,  as  experi- 
ence too  amply  proved,  to  efface  from  his  recol- 
lection. 

I  contend  then,  finally,  that  the  Creation  Story 
was  intended  to  have  a  special  bearing  on  the  great 
institution  of  the  day  of  rest,  or  Sabbath,  by  exhib- 
iting it  in  the  manner  of  an  object  lesson.  Paley, 
indeed,  has  said  that  God  blessed  the  seventh  day 
and  sanctified  it  (Gen.  2 :  3),  not  at  that  time  but 


70 


THE  CREA  TTON  STOR  Y. 


for  that  reason.     He  is  a  writer  much  to  be  re- 
spected, and  for  many  reasons ;  but,  in  deahng  with 
Holy  Scripture,  he  was  somewhat  apt  tp  rest  upon 
the   surface.     And   now   we    have    learned    from 
Assyrian   researches  how  many  and  how  sharply 
traced  are  the  vestiges,  long  anterior  to  the  delivery 
of  the  law,  of  some  eariy  institution  or  command, 
which  in  that  region  evidently  had  given  a  special 
sanctity  to  the  number  seven,  and,  in  particular,  to 
the  seventh  day. 

Man  then,  child-like  and  sinless,  had  to  receive  a 
lesson  which  was  capable  of  gradual  development, 
and  which  spoke  to  something  like  the  following 
effect :  It  has  not  been  by  a  slight  or  single  effort 
that  the  nature,  in  which  you  are   moulded,   has 
been  lifted  to  its  present  level ;  you  have  reached  it 
by  steps  and  degrees,  and  by  a  plan  which,  stated 
in  rough  outline,  may  stir  your  faculties,  and  help 
them  onwards  to  the  truth  through  the  genial  ac- 
tion of  wonder,  delight,  and  gratitude.     This  was  a 
lesson  on  the  facts  of  creation,  perhaps  quite  large 
enough,  so  it  seems  to  me,  for  the  primitive  man; 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


71 


and  one  which,  when  he  had  heard  and  had  begun 
to  digest  it,  might  well  be  followed  by  a  rest  for 
generations. 

And  it  further  seems  to  have  been  vital  to  the 
efificiency  of  this  lesson,  from  such  a  point  of  view, 
that  it  should  have  been  sharply  broken  up  into 
parts,  although  there  might  be  in  nature  nothing, 
at  any  precise  points  of  breakage  or  transition,  to 
correspond  physically  with  those  divisions.     They 
would  become  intelligible,  significant,  and  useful 
on  a  comparison  of  the  several  processes  in  their 
developed  state,  and  of  the  vast  and  measureless 
differences,   whic!.    in    that    state   they   severally 
present  to  contemplation.     As,  when  a  series  of 
scenes  are  now  made  to  move  along  before  the  eye 
of  a  spectator,  his  attention  is  not  fixed  upon  the 
joints  which  divide  them,  but  on  the  scenes  them- 
selves, yet  the  joints  constitute  a  framework  as  it 
were  for  each,  and  the  idea  of  each  is  made  more 
distinct  and  Hvely  than  it  would  have  been  if,  with- 
out any  note  of  division,  they  had  run  into  one 
another. 


72 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


There   is,   however,   another  purpose,   not   yet 
named,  and  more  remote  yet  perhaps  even  more 
vital,  which  appears  to  be  powerfully  served  by  the 
Creation  Story  of  the  Bible.     In  the  prehistoric 
time,  polytheism  was  very  largely  engendered  by 
national  distinctions,  rivalries,  and  amalgamations 
By  a  ready  and  ingenious  compromise  each  people 
became  habituated  to  recognize  a  deity  all-sufficient 
for  its  own  wants,  but  unconcerned  with  those  of 
others.     In  the  course  of  time  and  of  successive 
change,  many  of  these  deities  might  find  themselves 
inducted  into  one  and  the  same  thearchy,  or  my- 
thological system,  such  as  that  of  Assyria  or  of 
Olympus,  and  sitting  there  side  by  side.     When 
this  happened,  the  polytheistic  idea  had  reached 
its  full  development.     But  the  road  to  it  lay  princi- 
pally through  the  erection  of  separate  thrones,  each 
for  the  god  of  some   particular   national   organi- 
zation ;  and  it  was  narrowed  within  the  limits  thus 
imposed  upon  the  earlier  and  more  proper  con- 
ception of  a  Divine  Governor.     But,  wherever  the 
Creation  Story  of  Genesis  was  truly  received,  the 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


71 


door  was  effectually  closed  for  all  thinking  men 
against  these  co-equal  and  purely  national  gods. 
And  how  ?     Because  the  God  of  Israel  was  the 
Maker  of  the  world,  and  so  of  all  the  nations  in 
it.     It    was    his    creation;    and    its     inhabitants, 
whether  terrestrial  or  celestial,  were  his  creatures. 
Thus  the  narrative  of  this  great  chapter  was  nothing 
less  than  a  Great  Charter  of  monotheism;    and 
though,  in  Israelitish  practice,  Baal  and  Ashtoreth 
might  find  their  way  into  popular  worship,  and 
spread  around  them  an  infinity  of  corruption,  the 
lines  of  the  dogma,  as  a  dogma,  never  were  ob- 
scured, and  the  standard  of  authoritative  reform 
still  lifted  up  its  head  to  heaven  from  the  first  day  of 
idolatry  to  the  last,  when,  under  the  pressure  of  the 
Exile,  that  form  of  mischief  was  finally  submerged.^ 
This  great  idea,  the  universal  authorship  of  crea- 
tion, lost  rather  than  dilapidated   elsewhere,  was 
impressed   upon  the    Hebrew  mind  with   a   force 
which  found  its  way  into  the  solemn  worship  of 

»  For  the  further  elucidation  of  the  subject  of  this  paragraph,  see 
the  Postscript  to  "  The  Creation  Story." 


74 


THE  CREATION  STORY, 


the  temple.  It  was  not  in  Palestine  alone  that  the 
orders  of  animals  depended  upon  the  providence 
of  God,  and  that  hill  and  valley,  land  and  water, 
showed  forth  his  image.  It  was  the  entire  heavens 
which  declared  the  glory  of  God,  the  entire  firma- 
ment which  showed  forth  his  handiwork.  The  sun 
proclaimed  the  glory  of  its  Maker  from  the  utter- 
most part  of  the  heavens  unto  the  end  of  it  again ; 
and  the  sound  of  things  created  is  gone  out  into 
all  lands,  and  their  words  into  the  ends  of  the 
world.  .  .  .  The  sun  cometh  forth  as  a  bridegroom 
out  of  his  chamber,  and  rejoiceth  as  a  giant  to  run 
his  course  (Psa.  19  :  1-6).  But  this  glorious  sun,  in 
his  predestined  course,  was  himself  doing  homage 
to  his  Lord  and  Maker.  And  the  great  chapter 
visibly  reappears  in  the  verse  "One  day  telleth 
another,  one  night  certifieth  another  "  (Psa.  24  :  i). 
This  is  without  doubt  noble  poetry,  but  it  is  also 
nobler  than  any  poetry.  Mute  Nature  is  instinct 
with  life  and  vocal  with  worship,  and  all  Creation, 
in  its  humblest  orders  giving  a  lesson  to  its  loftiest, 
ministers  to  the  glory  of  the  Most  High. 


THE  ORE  A  TION  STOR  Y, 


75 


In  order,  then,  to  approach  any  attempt  at  com- 
parison between  the  record  of  Scripture  and  the 
record  of  Natural  Science,  we  must  consider  first, 
as  far  as  reasonable  presumption  carries  us,  what 
is  the  proper  object  of  the  scientist,  and  what  was 
the  proper  object  of  Moses,  or  of  the  Mosaic 
writer,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis. 

The  object  of  the  scientist  is  simply  to  state  the 
facts  of  nature  in  the  cosmogony  as  and  so  far  as 
he  can  find  them.  The  object  of  the  Mosaic  writer 
is  broadly  distinct ;  it  is,  surely,  to  convey  moral 
and  spiritual  training.  This  training  was  to  be  im- 
parted to  human  beings  of  child-like  temperament 
and  of  unimproved,  unopened  understanding.  It 
was  his  business  to  use  those  words  which  would 
best  carry  home  the  lessons  he  had  to  teach, 
which  would  carry  jnost  truth  into  the  minds  of 
those  he  taught.  This  observation  has  not  the 
honors  of  originality.  "He  emphasized,"  says 
Rabbi  Grossman,*  in  his  interesting  tract  on  Mai- 
monides,  "as  very  proper  and  wise,  the  Talmudic 

1  Page  12.     Putnam  :  New  York  and  London.    1890. 


76 


THE  CREATION  STORY. 


THE  CREATION  STORY. 


maxim,  that  the  Torah  employs  such  diction  as  is 
likely  to  be  most  communicative." 

In  speaking  of  the  Mosaic  writer,  I  would,  with- 
out presumption,  seek  to  include  any  divine  impulse 
which  may  have  prompted  him,  or  may  have  dic- 
tated any  communication  from  God  to  man,  in 
whatever  form  it  may  have  been  conveyed.     With 
this  aim  in  view,  words  of  figure,  though  literally 
untrue,  might  carry  more  truth  home  than  words 
of  fact;  and  words  less  exact  will  even  now  often 
carry  more  truth  than  words  superior  in  exactness. 
The  truth  to  be  conveyed  was,  indeed,  in  its  basis 
physical ;  but  it  was  to  serve  moral  and  spiritual 
ends,  and  accordingly  by  these  ends  the  method 
of  its  conveyance  behooved  to  be  shaped  and  pic- 
tured. 

I  submit,  then,  that  the  days  of  Creation  are 
neither  the  solar  days  of  twenty-four  hours,  nor  are 
they  the  geological  periods  which  the  geologist 
himself  is  compelled  popularly,  and  in  a  manner 
utterly  remote  from  precision,  to  describe  as  mil- 
lions upon  millions  of  years.     To  use  such  language 


77 


as  this  is  simply  and  properly  to  tell  us  that  we 
have  no  means  of  forming  a  determinate  idea  upon 
the  subject  of  the  geologic  periods.  I  set  aside 
both  these  interpretations,  as  I  do  not  think  the 
Mosaist  intended  to  convey  an  idea  like  the  first, 
which  would  seem  to  be  false,  or  like  the  second, 
which  for  his  auditory  would  have  been  barren  and 
unmeaning.  Unmeaning,  and  even  confusing  in  the 
highest  degree ;  for  large  statements  in  figures  are 
well  known  to  be  utterly  beyond  comprehension 
for  man  at  an  early  intellectual  stage ;  and  I  have 
myself,  I  think,  shown  ^  that,  even  among  the 
Achaian  or  Homeric  Greeks,  the  limits  of  numeri- 
cal comprehension  were  extremely  narrow,  and  all 
large  numbers  were  used,  so  to  speak,  at  a  venture, 
and  with  only  a  clouded  comprehension. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  "  days  "  of  the  Mosaist 
are  more  properly  to  be  described  as  chapters  in 
THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CREATION.  That  is  to  Say,  the 
purpose  of  the  writer,  in  speaking  of  the  days,  was 

*  "  Studies  on  Homer  and  the  Homeric  Age,"  Vol.  III.,  Section  on 
Number. 


78 


THE  CREA  TION  SJ-QR  Y. 


the  same  as  the  purpose  of  the  historian  is,  when 
he  divides  his  work  into  chapters.     His  object  is  to 
give  clear  and  sound  instruction.     So  that  he  can 
do  this,  and  in  order  that  he  may  do  it,  the  periods 
of  time  assigned  to  each  chapter  are  longer  or 
shorter,  according  as  the  one  or  the  other  may 
minister  to  better  comprehension  of  his  subject  by 
his  readers.     Further,  in  point  of  chronology,  his 
chapters  often  overlap.     He  finds  it  needful,  always 
keeping  his  end  in  view,  to  pursue  some  narrative 
to  its  close,  and  then,  stepping  backwards,  to  take 
up  some  other  series  of  facts,  although  their  exor- 
dium dated  at  a  period  of  time  on  which  he  has 
already  trespassed.     The  resources  of  the  literary 
art,  aided  for  the  last  four  centuries  by  printing, 
enable  the  modern  writer  to  confront  more  easily 
these  difficulties  of  arrangement,  and  so  to  present 
his  material  to  a  reader's  eye,  in  text  or  margin,  as 
to  place  the  texture  of  his  chronology  in  harmony 
with  the  texture  of  the  action  he  has  to  relate. 
The  Mosaist,  in  his  endeavor  to  expound  the  ordi- 
nary development  of  the  physical  worid,  had  no 


THE.  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


79 


such  resources.  His  expedient  was  to  lay  hold  on 
that  which,  to  the  mind  of  his  time,  was  the  best 
example  of  complete  and  orderly  division.  This 
was  the  day ;  an  idea  at  once  simple,  definite,  and 
familiar.  As  one  day  is  divided  from  another,  not 
by  any  change  visible  to  the  eye  at  a  given  moment, 
yet  effectually,  by  the  broad  chasm  of  the  inter- 
vening night,  so  were  the  stages  of  the  creative 
work  several  and  distinct.  Even  if,  like  the  lapse 
of  time,  they  were  without  breach  of  continuity,  yet 
the  work  of  each,  when  viewed  in  its  completeness, 
was  broadly  separated  from  that  of  every  other. 
E^ch  had  its  work,  each  had  the  beginning  and  the 
completion  of  that  work,  even  as  the  day  is  begun 
by  its  morning,  and  completed  and  concluded  by 
its  evening. 

And  now  to  sum  up.  In  order  that  the  narrative 
might  be  intelligible,  it  was  useful  to  subdivide  the 
grand  operation.  This  could  most  effectively  be 
done  by  subdividing  it  into  periods  of  time.  And 
further,  it  was  well  to  choose  that  particular  circum- 
scription or  period  of  time  which  is  the  most  definite 


So 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


and  best  understood.  Of  all  these,  the  day  is  clearly 
the  best,  as  compared  with  the  month  or  the  year: 
first,  because  of  its  small  and  familiar  compass  ; 
and,  secondly,  because  of  the  strong  and  marked 
division  which  separates  one  day  from  the  days 
which  precede  and  follow  it,  while  the  months  and 
the  years  run  into  one  another. 

Hence,  we  may  reasonably  argue,  it  is  that  not 
here  only,  but  throughout  the  Scripture,  and  even 
down  to  the  present  time  in  familiar  human  speech, 
the   day  is   figuratively  used  to  describe  periods 
of  time,  perfectly  undefined  as  such,  but  defined, 
for  practical  purposes,  by  the  lives  or   events  to 
which  reference  is  made.     And  if  it  be  said  there 
was  a  danger  of  its  being  misunderstood  in  this 
particular  case,  the  answer  is  that  such  danger  of 
misapprehension  attaches  in  various  degrees  to  all 
use  of  figurative  language  ;  but  figurative  language 
is  still  used.     And  with  reason,  because  the  miV 
chiefs  arising  from  such  danger  are  rare  and  trivial, 
in  comparison  with  the  force  and  clearness  which 
it  lends  to  truth  on  its  passage,  through  a  thickened 


T//E  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


8i 


atmosphere  of  folly,  indifference,  and  prejudice,  in- 
to the  mind  of  man.  In  this  particular  case,  the 
danger  and  inconvenience  are  at  their  minimum, 
the  benefit  at  its  zenith;  for  no  moral  mischief 
.ensues  because  some  have  supposed  the  days  of 
the  creation  to  be  pure  solar  days  of  twenty-four 
hours,  while  the  benefit  has  been  that  the  grand 
conception  of  orderly  development,  and  ascent  from 
chaos  to  man,  became  among  the  Hebrew  people 
a  universal  and  familiar  truth,  of  which  other  races 
appear  to  have  lost  sight. 

I  may  now  part  from  the  important  and  long- 
vexed  discussion  on  the  Mosaic  days.  But  I  shall 
further  examine  the  general  question,  what  is 
the  true  method,  what  the  reasonable  spirit,  of 
interpretation  to  be  applied  to  the  details  of  the 
Creation  Story?  I  will  state  frankly  my  opinion 
that,  in  this  important  matter,  too  much  has  some- 
times been  conceded  in  modern  days  to  the  scientist 
and  to  the  Hebraist,  just  as  in  former  days  too 
much  was  allowed  to  the  unproved  assumptions  of 

the  theologian.     Now  it  is  evident  that  the  proper 

6 


82 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y, 


ground  of  the  scientist  and  of  the  Hebraist  respec- 
tively is  unassailable,  as  against  those  who  are  nei- 
ther scientists  nor  Hebraists.     On  the  meaning  of 
the  words  used  in  the  Creation  Story,  I,  as  an  igno- 
ramus,  have  only  to  accept  the  statements  of  Hebrew, 
scholars,  with  gratitude  for  the  aid  received  ;  and  in 
like  manner  the  pronouncements  of  men  skilled  in 
natural  science  on  the  nature  and  succession  of  the 
orders  of  being,  and  on  the  transitions  from  one  to 
the  other.     Not  because  their  statements  are  inerr- 
able, but  because  they  constitute  the  best  working? 
material  in  our  possession.     Still  they  are  the  state- 
ments of  men  whose  tide  to  speak  with  authority 
is  confined  to  their  special  province ;    and  if  we 
allow  them  without   protest  to  go  beyond  it,  and 
still  to  claim  that   authority  when  they  are  what 
is  called  at  school  "  out  of  bounds,"  we  are  much 
to  blame,  and  may  suffer  for  our  carelessness. 

I  will  now  endeavor  to  illustrate  and  apply 
what  has  been  said.  The  Hebraist  says,  I  will  con- 
duct you  safely  (as  far  as  the  case  allows)  to  the 
meaning  of  the  Hebrew  words.     And  the  scientist 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


83 


makes  the  same  promise  in  regard  to  the  facts  of 
the  created  orders,  so  far  as  they  are  exhibited  by 
geological  investigations  into  the  crust  of  the  earth. 
At  first  sight  it  may  seem  as  if  these  two  authori- 
tative witnesses  must  cover  the  whole  ground,  each 
setdng  out  from  his  own  point  of  departure,  the 
two  then  meeting  in  the  midst,  and  leaving  no  un- 
occupied space  between  them.     But  my  contention 
is  that  there  is  a  ground  which  neither  of  them  is 
entided  to  occupy  in  his  character  as  a  specialist, 
and  on   which   he  has   no  warrant   for   enterino- 
except  in  so  far  as  he  is  a  just  observer  and  rea- 
soner  in  a  much  wider  field.     And  what   is   the 
residuary  subject-matter  still  to  be  disposed   of? 
Not   the   meaning  of  the    Hebrew   words.      The 
Hebraist  has   already  given  us  their  true  equiva- 
lents in  English.     We  now  learn,  for  example,  that 
the  "whales"  of  Genesis  i  :  21  are  not  whales  at  all, 
but  that  they  are  aquatic  monsters^  or  great  crea- 

»  Rev.  Ver.,  the  great  sea-monsters.  "  It  seems.'on  the  whole,  most 
probable,  that  the  creatures  here  said  to  have  been  created  were  ser- 
pents, crocodiles,  and  other  huge  saurians,  though  possibly  any  large 
monsters  of  sea  or  river  may  be  included"   (Bp.   Browne   in   /oc. 


84 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


tures;  while  we  learn  from  the  biologist  that  the 
whale  is  a  late  mammal.    So  geology  has  acquainted 
us  what  are  the  relative  dates  of  the  water  and  of 
the  land  populations,  and  has  supplied  much  infor- 
mation as  to  reptiles,  birds,  and  beasts.     But  there 
remains  a  great  uncovered  ground,  and  a  great 
unsolved  question.     It  is  this.     Given  the  facts  as 
the  geologist  is  led  to  state  them,  given  the  Hebrew 
tongue  as  the  instrument  through  which  the  relator 
has  to  work,  what  are  the  terms,  and  what  is  the 
order  and  adjustment  of  terms,  through  which  he 
can  convey  most  of  truth  and  force,  with  least  of 
incumbrance  and  of  impediment,  to  the  mind  of 
man,  in  the  condition  in  which  he  had  to  deal  with 
it  ?     Let  me  be  permitted  to  say  that  the  only  spe- 
cialism, which  can  be  of  the  smallest  value  here,  is 
that  of  the  close  observer  of  human  nature;  of  the 
student  of  human  action,  and  of  the  methods  which 

••  Speaker's  Commentary  ").  Possibly  a  word  signifying,  whether 
wholly  or  inter  alia,  crocodiles,  would  convey  a  pretty  clear  idea  to 
the  mind  of  the  Hebrews,  after  their  sojourn  in  Egypt.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  may  be  asked  what  reason  can  be  given  for  construing  the 
word  in  this  limited  sense. 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


85 


Divine  Providence  employs  in  the  conduct  of  its 
dealings  with  men.  Certainly  I  can  lay  no  claim 
to  be  heard  here  more  than  any  other  person.  Yet 
will  I  say,  that  any  man  whose  labor  and  duty, 
whether  for  several  scores  of  years  or  for  a  shorter 
term,  has  included  as  their  central  point  the  study 
of  the  means  of  making  himself  intelligible  to  the 
mass  of  men,  is  J>ro  tanto  perhaps  in  a  better  posi- 
tion to  judge  what  would  be  the  forms  and  methods 
of  speech  proper  for  the  Mosaic  writer  to  adopt, 
than  the  most  perfect  Hebraist  as  such,  or  the  most 
consummate  votary  of  natural  sciences  as  such. 

I  will  now  endeavor  to  try  some  portions  of  the 
case  which  turn  upon  verbal  difficulty.  At  the 
outset  of  the  narrative  the  relator  says,  that 
"the  earth  was  without  form  and  void"  (Gen. 
1 :  2)  and  that  "  the  spirit  of  God  moved  upon 
the  face  of  the  waters."  Nay,  how  is  this?  says 
the  Hebraist.  The  Hebrew  word  for  earth  means 
earth,  and  the  word  used  for  water  never  means 
anything  except  water.  But  according  to  the 
beautiful  theory,  which  has  during  the  last  half- 


S6 


THE  CREA  HON  STOR  Y. 


century  won  so  largely  the  adhesion  of  the  scientific 
world,  and  which  seems  to  be  mainly  called  the 
nebular  theory,  at  the  commencement  of  the  pro- 
cess  which    Genesis    describes,   and   in   its   early 
stages,  there   was   no   earth,  and   there  were  no 
waters.     Is  the   relator   here  really  in   fault?     It 
seems  to  me  that  it  might  be  quite  as  easy  to  cavil 
at  the  phrase  nebular  theory,  though  it  be  one  in 
use  among  scientific  men,  as  it  is  to  find  fault  with 
these  words  of  Genesis.     For  nothing  can  be  more 
different  than  a  nekila  or  cloud  from  a  vast  expanse 
of  incandescent  gaseous  matter.     In  truth,  we  seem 
to  have  for  our  point  of  departure  a  time  when  all 
the  elements  and  all  the  forces  of  the  visible  uni- 
verse were  in  chaotic  mixture,  whereas  there  could 
hardly  be  any  sort  of  nebula  until  they  had  begun 
to  be  disengaged  from  one  another.     How  then  are 
we   to   judge  of   the   employment   of   the    word 
"earth"  by  the  Mosaic  writer?     Is  it  not  thus? 
He  is  dealing  with  an  Adam,  or  with  a  primitive 
race  of  men,  who  have  the  earth  under  their  eyes. 
He  wants  to  give  them  an  idea  of  its  coming  into 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


87 


existence.  And  he  says  what  we  may  fairly  para- 
phrase in  this  way:  that  which  has  now  become 
earth,  and  was  then  becoming  earth,  the  sohd  well- 
defined  form  you  see,  was  as  yet  without  form  and 
void ;  epithets  which  I  am  told  might  be  improved 
upon,  but  this  is  a  matter  by  the  way. 

So  again  with  respect  to  water.  The  men  for 
whom  the  relator  wrote  knew,  perhaps,  of  no  fluid 
except  water,  at  any  rate  of  none  vast  and  practi- 
cally measureless  in  volume.  What  was  the  idea 
he  had  to  convey  ?  It  was  not  the  special  and  dis- 
tinctive character  of  the  liquid  called  water;  it  was 
the  broad  separation  between  solid  as  such,  familiar, 
firm,  immovable  under  his  feet,  and  fluid  as  such, 
movable  and  fluctuating  at  large  in  space.  No 
doubt  the  idea  conveyed  by  the  word  "waters"  is  an 
imperfect  idea,  although  waters  are  still  waters  at 
times  when  they  may  be  holding  vast  quantities  of 
solid  in  solution.  But  it  was  an  idea  easy,  clear, 
and  familiar  up  to  the  point  of  expressing  forcibly 
the  contrast  between  the  ancient  state  of  things, 
with  its  weltering  waste,  and  the  recent  and  defined 


88 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y, 


conditions  of  the  habitable  earth.     Could  we  ask 
of  the  relator  more  than  that  he  should  employ, 
among  the  words  at  his  disposal,  that  which  would 
come  nearest  to  conveying  a  true  idea  ?     And  had 
he  any  word  so  good  as  water   for  his  purpose, 
though  it  was  but  an  approximation  to  the  actual 
fact  ?     Dr.  Driver^  describes  the  scene  as  that  of  a 
"  surging  chaos."     An  admirable  phrase,  I  make 
no  doubt,  for  our  modern  and  cultivated  minds  ; 
but  a  phrase  which,  in  my  judgment,  would  have 
left  the  pupils  of  the  Mosaic  writer  exactly  in  the 
condition  out  of  which  it  was  his  purpose  to  bring 
them ;  namely,  a  state  of  utter  ignorance  and  total 
darkness,  with  possibly  a  little  ruffle  of  bewilder- 
ment to  boot.     Another  description  claiming  high 
authority  is,   an   "  uncompounded,  homogeneous, 
gaseous  condition  "  of  matter ;  to  which  the  same 
observation  will  apply.     Even  now,  it  is  only  by 
rude  and  bald  approximations  that  the  practiced 
intellects  of  our  scientists  can  bring  home  to  us  a 
conception  of  the  actual  process  by  which  chaos 

1  In  an  articte  contributed  to  the  "  Expositor,"  January,  1886. 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


89 


passed  into  kosmos,  or,  in  other  words,  confusion 
became  order,  medley  became  sequence,  seeming 
anarchy  became  majestic  law,  and  horror  softened 
into  beauty.  Before  censuring  the  Mosaist,  who 
had  to  deal  with  grown  children,  let  the  adverse 
critic  try  his  hand  upon  some  little  child.  I  believe 
he  will  find  that  the  method  and  language  of  this 
relator  are  not  only  good,  but  superlatively  good, 
for  the  aim  he  had  in  view,  if  once  for  all  we  get  rid 
of  standards  ofinterpretation  other  than  the  genuine 
and  just  one,  which  tests  the  means  employed  by 
their  relation  to  the  end  contemplated  and  sought. 

I  now  approach  a  larger  head  of  objection,  which 
is  usually  handled  by  the  Contradictionists  in  a 
tone  of  confidence  rising  into  the  paean  of  triumph. 
But  let  me,  before  presuming  to  touch  on  objec- 
tions to  particulars  of  the  Creation  Story,  guard 
myself  against  being  supposed  to  put  forward  any 
portion  of  what  follows  as  unconditional  assertion, 
or  final  comment  on  the  text.  The  general  situa- 
tion is  this :  Objectors  do  not  hesitate  to  declare 
dogmatically  that  the  great  chapter  is  in  contradic- 


90 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


tion  with  the  laws  and  facts  of  Nature,  and  that 
attempts  to  reconcile  them  are  futile  and  irrational. 
It  is  thus  sought  to  close  the  question.  My  aim  is 
to  show  that  the  question  is  not  closed,  and  that 
the  condemnation  pronounced  upon  the  Mosaist  is 
premature ;  and  that  a  very  different  contention  has 
to  be  considered,  namely,  whether  this  chapter  does 
not  in  itself  supply  proof  of  a  divine  revelation.  For 
this  purpose  I  offer  conjecturally,  and  in  absolute 
submission  to  all  that  biology  and  geology,  or  other 
forms  of  science,  have  established,  replies  which 
are  strictly  provisional ;  yet  replies  which  I  consider 
that  the  Contradictionist  ought,  together  with  other 
and  weightier  replies,  to  confute,  or  legitimately  to 
consider,  before  he  can  be  warranted  in  asserting 
the  contradiction.     But  I  proceed. 

How  hopeless,  is  the  cry,  to  reconcile  Genesis 
with  fact,  when,  as  a  fact,  the  sun  is  the  source  of 
h'ght,  and  yet  in  Genesis  light  is  the  work  of  the 
first  day,  and  vegetation  of  the  third,  while  sun, 
moon,  and  stars  appear  only  on  the  fourth  !  Nay, 
worse  still.     Whereas  the  morning  and  the  evening" 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


91 


depend  wholly  on  the  rotation  of  the  earth  upon  its 
own  axis,  as  it  travels  round  the  sun,  the  Mosaist 
is  so  ignorant  that  he  gives  us  not  days  only,  but 
the  mornings  and  the  evenings  of  days  before  the 
sun  is  created.  And  so  his  narration  explodes,  not 
by  blows  aimed  at  it  from  without,  but  by  its  own 
internal  self-contradictions.  It  is  hissed,  Hke  a 
blundering  witness,  out  of  court.  Not  that  this  is 
the  opinion  of  astronomers  in  general.  Mr.  Lock- 
yer,  ^  for  example,  cites,  with  apparent  approval,  a 
passage  from  his  very  distinguished  predecessor  in 
the  science,  Halley,  who  says  that  the  diffused  lucid 
medium  he  had  found,  disposed  of  the  difficulty 
which  some  have  moved  against  the  description 
Moses  gives  of  the  Creation,  alleging  that  light 
could  not  be  created  without  the  sun. 

The  first  triad  of  days,  says  Professor  Dana,^  sets 
forth  the  events  connected  with  the  inorganic  his- 
tory of  the  earth.  The  second  triad,  from  the 
fourth  day  to  the  sixth,  is  occupied  with  the  events 

1  Nineteenth  Century,  Nov.,  1889,  P-  788. 
*  Dana's  "  Creation,"  p.  207. 


92 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y, 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y, 


93 


m 


of  the  organic  history,  from  the  creation   of  the 
first  animal  to  man.     He  finds  in  the  general  struc- 
ture of  the  narrative  a  considerable  degree  of  elabo- 
ration, an  arrangement  full  of  art     The  passage 
from  verse  14  to  verse  19  is,  in  one  sense,  a  quali- 
fication of  the  order  he  thinks  to  have  been  laid 
down,  inasmuch  as  the  heavenly  bodies  belong  to 
the  inorganic  division  of  the  history.     From  an- 
other  point  of  view,  however,  this   arrangement 
contributes  in  a  marked  manner  to  the  symmetry 
of  the  narrative.     The  first  triad  of  days  begins  with 
the  first  and  gradual  detachment  of  light  from  the 
''surging  chaos;"  the  second,  at  the  stage  in  which 
light  has  reached  its  final  distribution.    The  central 
mass  had  now  assumed  with  a  certain  amount  of 
regularity  (for,  according  to  heliologists,  the  process 
does  not  even  yet  appear  to  be  absolutely  com- 
pleted) its  spherical  and  luminous  figure,  after  shed- 
ding off  from  itself  the  minor  masses,  each  to  find 
for  itself  its  own  orbit  of  rotation.     Or,  if  we  are  to 
assume  that  the  photosphere  or  vapor-envelope  of 
the  earth  itself  had  obstructed  the  vision  of  the  sun, 


we  have,  further,  to  assume^  that  this  obstacle  had 
now  disappeared  or  ceased  to  be  impervious,  and 
that  the  visibility  of  the  sun  was  established.  So 
that  light,  or  the  light-power,  while  diffused,  ushers 
in  the  first  division  of  the  mighty  process;  the 
same  light-power,  concentrated  by  the  operation 
of  the  rotary  principle,  and  for  practical  purposes 
become  such  as  we  now  know  it,  is  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  second  division,  the  division  that  re- 
lates to  organic  life. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  subject  of  light  is  the 
only  one  which  is  dealt  with  in  two  separate  sec- 
tions of  the  narrative.  The  gradual  severance,  or 
disengagement,  of  the  earth  from  its  present  vest- 
ure, the  atmosphere,  and  of  the  solid  land  from 
the  ocean,  are  continuously  handled  in  verses  6-10. 
Each  of  these  processes  may  have  been  gradual, 
and  may  have  passed  through  many  stages.  But, 
at  verses  6  and  9,  they  are  respectively  summed  up 
by  a  few  peremptory  words  of  command,  as  if  they 
had  been  convulsive  or  instantaneous.     Only  the 

»Guyot,  "  Creation,"  Chap.  XL,  p.  92. 


94 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


grand  result  is  made  known.  The  avoidance  of 
all  attempt  to  explain  the  process  seems  to  me 
only  a  proof  of  the  wisdom  which  guided  the  for- 
mation of  the  tale.  To  the  primitive  man  it  would 
have  become  a  barren  puzzle;  the  wood  might  have 
been  lost  in  the  trees.  As  it  now  stands,  mental 
confusion  is  avoided,  and  definite  ideas  are  con- 
veyed. 

There  seems,  however,  to  be  a  special  reason  for 
the  introduction  of  the  heavenly  bodies  at  this 
particular  place.  It  was  evidently  needful  at  some 
place  or  other  to  give  a  specific  account  of  the 
day,  or  compartment  of  time,  which  is  employed 
throughout  the  chapter  to  mark  the  severance  of 
the  different  stages  of  creation  from  each  other. 
At  what  point  of  the  narrative  could  this  account 
be  most  properly  and  most  accurately  introduced  ? 
In  order  to  answer  this  question,  let  us  consider 
the  situation  rather  more  at  laree. 

It  may  be  convenient,  before  entering  into  the 
fuller  discussion,  to  set  out  some  brief  and  synop- 
tical account  of  the  contents  of  the  (detailed)  Crea- 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


95 


tion  Story  properly  so  called,  which  begins  with 
the  commencement  of  the  first  chapter,  and  ends 
with  the  third  verse  of  the  second. 

It  may  be  divided  first  into  two  portions,  the  first 
of  six  days  and  the  second  of  the  seventh  day  only : 
the  first  presenting  an  account  of  the  creation  and 
fashioning  of  the  world,  and  dealing  with  work 
done.  The  second  is  negative  with  respect  to  work 
done,  and  simply  records  the  issue  of  a  command, 
together  with  the  grand  analogy  on  which  that 
command  is  based. 

When  we  turn  to  the  creative  work  of  the  six 
days,  we  cannot  limit  it  to  the  earth,  as  the  opera- 
tions of  the  fourth  day  are  concerned  with  the 
heavenly  bodies ;  nor  can  we  extend  it  to  the  kosmos 
properly  so  called,  or  material  universe,  for  we 
cannot  tell  how  far  the  signification  of  the  word 
"stars"  in  verse  1 6  may  be  meant  to  extend.  It 
may  refer  to  the  creation  of  our  own  solar  system, 
but  we  are  not  warranted  in  propounding  this  as  a 
definition  of  its  extent.  Keeping  in  view  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  whole  narrative  addresses  itself 


96 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


to  practical  ends,  the  word  "stars  "  maybe  thought 
to  include  all  those  heavenly  bodies  of  which  the 
earliest  astronomy  took  note.  But  the  terms  em- 
ployed define  nothing  as  to  time,  except  as  regards 
the  sun  and  moon,  making  only  the  general  asser- 
tion that  the  Almighty  was  also  the  Creator  of  the 
stars.  When  speaking  of  the  creation  of  the  world, 
I  employ  the  phrase  in  the  sense  thus  indicated. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  six  days  can  be  sepa- 
rated into  portions  by  any  perfectly  clean  division. 
The  first  four  are  mainly  cosmological,  but  they 
include  the  beginning  of  vegetation  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth.  The  two  last  of  the  days  are  zoologi- 
cal. But  the  sixth  day,  like  the  third,  is  mixed, 
and  contains  operations  not  homogeneous.  Of 
geology,  as  it  is  commonly  understood,  the  chapter 
takes  no  notice.  It  is  confined  to  the  air,  the 
sea,  and  the  earth  surface.  But  the  researches  of 
geology  into  the  changes  which  that  surface  has 
undergone  in  the  lapse  of  time  have  most  bene- 
ficially enlarged  our  knowledge  of  the  chapter,  and 
our  means  of  appreciating  its  wonderful  construe- 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


97 


tion.  The  mixture  of  cosmic  with  terrestrial  his- 
tory in  the  third  day,  and  the  return  to  cosmic 
narrative  on  the  fourth,  are  readily  to  be  accounted 
for  by  the  aim  of  the  chapter  which  apparently 
governs  its  sequences.  But  on  account  of  this 
mixture  I  do  not  attempt  subdivision  of  the  days 
of  creation,  and  simply  bring  together  the  leading 
operations  in  what  is,  I  hope,  a  simple  and  intelli- 
gible form. 

Verse  i.  First  we  have  the  creation  of  the  material 
universe,  described  as  "the  heavens  and  the  earth." 
This  takes  place  in  the  beginning.  But  it  is  not 
stated  of  w/iat  it  was  the  beginning.  This  is  in  the 
first  verse;  and  there  is  no  link  of  time  between  it 
and  the  second,  which  resumes  the  narrative  inde- 
pendently of  the  first. 

So  far  as  form  is  concerned,  the  chapter  might 
have  commenced  with  verse  2.  But  then  we  should 
not  have  possessed  the  pronouncement  or  dogma 
of  universal  creation. 

Verse  2.  This  verse  proclaims  first  the  formless 
condition  of  the  earth.    Now,  as  no  earth  can  prop- 

7 


98 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y, 


eriy  be  said  to  exist  except  with  form,  the  words 
amount  to  a  declaration  that  the  materials  for  the 
formation  of  the  earth  existed,  but  that  the  earth 
was  not  yet  formed.  Motion  is  then  announced, 
and  assigned  to  the  divine  actuating  power.  The 
Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters! 
That  motion  was  imparted  to  these  *' waters"  is  not 
directly  mentioned;  but  such  a  mention  would 
have  conveyed  no  rational  conception  to  the  primi- 
tive man,  who  had  nothing  in  his  experience  to 
correspond  with  it. 

I  shall  assume  that  what  is  known  as  the  nebu- 
lar theory  of  creation  stands  good  as  a  working 
hypothesis.  We  have  then  to  observe,  not  that  the 
Mosaic  narrative  is  tied  to  it  so  as  to  be  consistent 
with  no  other,  nor  that  it  gives  a  complete  exposi- 
tion of  it,  but  that,  moving  as  it  were  on  parallel 
lines,  one  chapter  is  so  constructed  as  at  no  point 
to  clash  with  it. 

Verses  3-5.  Accordingly  motion  is  at  once  fol- 
lowed by  the  disengagement  of  light.  And  this 
light  is  divided  from  the  darkness.     According  to 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V, 


99 


the  nebular  theory,  the  rotation  is  followed  by  the 
formation  of  a  central  mass,  and  the  detachment 
from  it  of  minor  masses,  which  as  they  continue  to 
rotate  expose  successively  the  different  portions  of 
their  surface  to,  and  then  remove  it  from,  the  cen- 
tral light.  Thus  the  light  is  parted  from  the  dark- 
ness and  the  basis  of  diurnal  division  laid. 

Verses  6-S.    The  first  grand  severance  havino- 
thus  been  made,  and  something  in  the  nature  of  a 
globular  figure  constituted,  by  rotation  and  gravi- 
tation, which  was  to  become  the  earth,  and  the 
next  grand  severance  is  that  of  the  earth  from  its 
atmospheric  vesture  described  as  the  firmament  or 
expanse,  a  portion  of  space  accommodated  as  we 
now  know  to  the  conditions  of  animal  life.     This 
firmament  "divides   the  waters  from  the  waters," 
humidity  being  gradually  condensed  beneath  into 
what  we  know  as  water,  and  also  above  our  heads 
collected  without  such  condensation  into  the  clouds 
from  whence  proceed  our  supplies  of  rain. 

Verses  9,10.    The  second  grand  severance  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  third.     Moisture  being  no  longer  dif- 


lOO 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


fused  through  the  parts  of  space  without  sensible 
distinction,  and  the  principal  part  of  it  being  con- 
densed into  water,  this  water  becomes  a  mass  lim- 
ited to  a  certain  portion  of  space,  beneath  the  firma- 
ment of  air.     Then  this  mass,  local,  circumscribed, 
becomes  the  sea,  filling  the  great  cavities  of  the 
earth  surface,  and  leaving  the  portions  not  thus 
occupied  to  become  comparatively  dry.    Thus  land 
and  sea  are  constituted.     This  severance,  like  the 
others,  is  described  so  to  speak  in  the  large,  and 
leaves  unnoticed  all  the  particular  arrangements  for 
the   successive   production  and  deposition  of  the 
rocks;   for  it  adheres  throughout  to  its  principle, 
which  confines  its  statements  within  the  Hmits  of 
what  IS  suitable  for  the  instruction  of  the  primitive 
man. 

Verses  ii,  12.  Land  and  sea  being  thus  con- 
stituted, and  light  having  been  their  precursor,  with 
heat,  its  twin-brother,  which  from  other  sources  we 
know  to  have  been  produced  as  its  concomitant 
through  motion,  we  are  possessed  of  the  necessary 
antecedents  of  vegetation   and  vegetation  follows. 


THE  CREATION  STORY. 


lOI 


The  mode  in  which  it  is  described  will  be  presently 
considered. 

The  acts  of  the  fourth  day  are  cosmological  in 
themselves ;  but  they  form  a  chapter  of  cosmology 
which  is  here  treated  in  reference  to  the  earth,  as 
the  sun  and  moon  are  to  be  the  time-markers  for 
mankind.  In  this  view  then  we  may  be  justified  in 
saying  that  from  henceforward  the  narrative  only 
concerns  itself  with  terrestrial  arrangements. 

Verses  14-19.  These  verses  have  evidently  the 
making  of  the  sun  and  moon  for  their  principal 
subject.  It  is  subjoined  without  any  particulars 
that  God  made  the  stars  also.  They  are  in  such 
conjunction  with  the  moon  that  they  seemed  fit  for 
mention  ;  but  their  relation  to  man  at  large  is  com- 
paratively slight,  and  accordingly  the  mention  is 
without  detail. 

Verses  2023.  The  fifth  day  introduces  us  to 
animated  life :  an  onward  stride  in  the  evolution  of 
the  world  of  so  distinct  a  character,  that  it  is  marked 
by  the  use  for  the  second  time  only  of  the  Hebrew 
word  which  we  are  told  denotes  creation.      The 


I02 


THE  CREATION  STORY. 


work  of  this  day  is  in  two  stages,  and  it  is  ushered 
in  by  a  double  command.     First  it  is  ordained  that 
the  waters  shall  bring  forth  abundantly  the  moving 
creature  that  hath  life,  and  in  verse  20  the  com- 
mand, as  it  is  stated  in   the  Authorized  Version, 
seems  to  cover  the  fowl  that  were  to  fly  in  the 
firmament  of  heaven.      But  the  Revised  Version 
completely  separates  the  two  portions  of  the  fiat, 
(i)  that  the  waters  should  bring  forth,  and  (2)  that 
the  fowl  should  fly.     Thus  verse  20  is  placed  in 
complete   harmony   with   verse  21,  where  in   the 
Authorized  as  well  as  in  the  Revised  Version  the 
successive  divine  acts  that  produce  the  water  and 
the  air  populations  respectively  are  placed  in  regu- 
lar sequence. 

Verses  24-28.  The  work  of  the  sixth  day  em- 
braces in  its  entirety  the  earth-population  of 
animals  and  men.  Animals  are  described  with 
some  variation  of  phrase,  but  apparently  none  of 
meaning.  In  verse  24  they  are  "  the  living  creature 
after  his  kind,"  "  catde  and  creeping  thing  and  beast 
of  the  earth  after  his  kind."     In  verse  25  they  are 


THE  CREATION  STORY. 


103 


"  the  beast  of  the  earth  after  his  kind,"  and  "cattle 
after  their  kind,  and  everything  that  creepeth  upon 
the  earth  after  his  kind."  Such  is  in  general  out- 
line the  animal  kingdom  of  the  earth-population. 

Verses  26-3 1 .  We  now  come  to  the  grand  con- 
summating act,  the  creation  of  man ;  and  here,  for 
the  third  time,  the  Hebrew  term  indicative  of  crea- 
tion proper  is  used.  The  production  of  man  is  an- 
nounced under  a  form  of  consultation;  the  distinc- 
tion of  male  and  female  is  included  in  the  opera- 
tions of  the  day ;  this  eminent  being  is  created  in 
the  image  of  God  (26,  27),  is  endowed  with  general 
dominion  over  all  living  creatures,  and  with  a  title 
to  all  seed-bearing  herbs  and  fruit-hearing  trees  for 
food  (29),  while  the  grasses  are  assigned  to  the  in- 
ferior orders.  Finally,  a  solemn  benediction  from 
the  Creator  inaugurates  the  great  mission  of  man 
(28)  upon  the  earth,  and  so  the  work  of  the  six 
days  stands  complete  in  outline  before  us.  Then 
follows  in  2:1-3  the  benediction  of  the  seventh 
day. 

Having  the  whole  process  placed  thus  synopti- 


I04 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


cally  before  us,  we  proceed  to  the  discussion  in 
detail. 

The  supposition  is,  that  we  set  out  with  a  vast 
seething  mass,  of  such  a  nature  as  to  contain  all 
the  elements  which  are  to  become  the  solids  and 
liquids,  the  moist  and  dry,  the  heat  and  the  non- 
heat    or   cold,   the    light    and    the   non-light   or 
darkness,  that  so  largely  determine  the  external 
conditions  of  our  present  existence.     By  degrees, 
according  to  the  rarity  or  density  of  parts,  the 
centripetal  or  the  centrifugal  force  prevails.     And 
accordingly,  while  the  huge  bulk  of  the  sun  con- 
solidates itself  in   the  center,  so  likewise   aggre- 
gations   of   matter    (rings,  according   to   Guyot,* 
which  afterwards  become,  or  may  become,  spheres), 
are  detached  from  it  to  form  the  planets,  under  the 
agency  of  the  same  mechanical  forces.      All   or 
some  of  these,  in  their  turn,  dismiss  from  their  as 
yet  ill-compacted  surfaces  other  subaltern  masses 
either  to  revolve  around  them  as  satellites,  or  other- 
wise,  according  to  the  balance  of  forces,  to  take 

*  "Creation,"  pp.  67.  73. 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


105 


their  course  in  space.     Meantime,  the  great  cool- 
ing process,  which  is  still  in  progress  at  this  day, 
has  begun.     It  proceeds  at  a  rate  determined  for 
it  by  its  particular  conditions,  among  which   mass 
and  motion  are  of  essential  consequence  ;  for,  other 
things  being  equal,  a  small  body  will  cool  faster  and 
a  large  body  will  cool  slower  ;  and  a  body  moving 
more  rapidly  through  space  of  a  lower  temperature 
than  its   own  will  cool  more  rapidly;  while  one 
which  is  stationary,  or  more  nearly  stationary,  or 
which  diffuses  heat  less  rapidly  from  its  surface 
into  the  colder  space,  will  retain  a  high  tempera- 
ture longer.     Owing  to  these  perhaps  with  other 
causes,  the  temperature  of  the   earth-surface  has 
been  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  human  life,  and 
of  the  more  recent  animal  life,  for  a  very  long  time. 
It  had  already  been  made  suitable  to  those  of  the 
earlier  animals,  and  of  vegetation  in  a  series  of 
progressive  orders,  for  we  know  not  how  much 
longer;    while  the  sun,  though   gradually  losing 
some  part  of  his  stock  of  caloric  (whatever  that 
may  be),  still  remains  at  a  temperature  inordinately 


io6 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V, 


high,  and  with  a  globular  formation  comparatively 
incomplete. 

Considering,  then,  what  are  the  relations  between 
the  conditions  of  heat  and  those  of  moisture,  and 
how  the  coatings  of  vapor,  "  the  swaddling-band 
of  cloud,"  ^  might  affect  the  visibility  of  bodies,  may 
it  not  be  rash  to  affirm  that  the  sun  is,  as  a  definite 
and  compact  body,  older  than  the  earth  ?  or  that  it 
is  so  old  ?  or  that  the  Mosaist  might  not  properly 
treat  the  visibility  of  the  sun,  in  something  like  its 
present  form,  as  best  marking  for  man  the  practical 
inception  of  its  existence  ?  or  that,  with  heat,  light, 
soil,  and  moisture  ready  to  its  service,  primordial 
vegetation  might  not  exist  on  the  surface  of  a 
planet  like  the  earth,  before  the  sun  had  fully 
reached  his  matured  condition  of  sufficiently  com- 
pact, material,  and  well-defined  figure,  and  of  visi- 
bility to  the  human  eye  ?  May  not,  once  for  all, 
the  establishment  of  the  relation  of  visibility  be- 
tween earth  and  sun  be  the  most  suitable  point  for 
the  relator  in  Genesis  to  bring  the  two  into  con- 

*  Dana,  p.  210. 


T//E  CREATION  STORK 


107 


nection?  And  here  again  I  would  remind  the 
reader  that  the  Mosaic  days  may  be  chapters  in 
a  history;  and  also  that,  not  in  despite  of  the 
law  of  series,  but  with  a  view  to  its  best  practi- 
cable application,  the  chapters  of  a  histoiy  may 
overlap. 

The  priority  of  earth  to  sun,  as  given  in  the  nar- 
rative, carries  us  so  far  as  this:  that  vecretative 
work  (of  what  kind  I  shall  presendy  inquire)  is 
stated  to  be  proceeding  on  the  surface  of  the  earth 
before  any  relation  of  earth  with  sun  is  declared. 
It  is  then  declared  in  the  terms,  "  and  God  made 
two  great  lights  "  (v.  16.)  Now  the  making  of 
earth  is  nowhere  declared,  but  only  implied.  And 
who  shall  say  that  there  is  some  one  exact  point 
of  time  in  the  continuous  process  which  (according 
to  the  nebular  theory)  reaches  from  the  first  begin- 
ning of .  rotation  down  to  the  present  condition 
of  the  solar  system,  to  which  point,  and  to  which 
alone,  the  term  "  making  "  must  belong?  But,  un- 
less there  be  such  a  point,  it  seems  very  difficult  to 
convict  the  Mosaic  writer  of  error  in  the  choice  he 


io8 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


has  made  of  an  opportunity  for  introducing  the 
heavenly  bodies  into  his  narrative. 

I  suppose  that  no  apology  is  needed  for  his  men- 
tioning the  moon  and  (more  shghtly)  the  stars  as 
accessories  m  the  train  of  the  sun,  and  combining 
them  all  without  note  of  time,  although  their  sev- 
eral  "makings"  may  have  proceeded  at  different 
speeds.     But   here   agam  we   find   exhibited  that 
principle  of  relativity  to   man   and   his    uses,  by 
which   the   writer   in    Genesis   appears   so  wisely 
to  steer  his  course  throughout.     We  are  told  of 
"two  great  lights"  (v.  i6);  and  one  of  them  is  the 
moon.     The  formation  of  the  stars  is   interjected 
soon  after,  as  if  comparatively  insignificant.     But 
the  planet-stars  individually  are  in  themselves  far 
greater  and  more  significant  than  the  moon,  which 
is  denominated  a  great  light.     In  what  sense  is  the 
moon  a  great  light?     Only  in  virtue  of  its  relation 
to  us.     For  its  magnitude,  as  it  is  represented  on 
the   human    retina,  is   far  larger  than   that  of  the 
stars,  and   in  certain    states   of  atmosphere    even 
seems  to  approach  that  of  the  sun.     Its  ofl^ce  also 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


109 


makes  it  the  queen  of  the  nocturnal  heaven.  So, 
then,  the  general  upshot  is,  that  the  mention  of  the 
sun  is  introduced  at  that  point  in  the  cosmogonic 
process  when,  from  the  condition  of  our  form  and 
atmosphere,  or  of  his,  or  of  both,  he  had  become 
so  definite  and  visible  as  to  be  finally  efficient  for 
his  office  of  dividing  day  from  day,  and  year  from 
year ;  that  the  planets,  being  of  an  altogether  sec- 
ondary importance  to  us,  simply  appear  as  his 
attendant  company;  and  that  to  the  moon,  a  body 
in  itself  comparatively  insignificant,  is  awarded  a 
rather  conspicuous  place,  which,  if  objectively  con- 
sidered, is  out  of  proportion,  but  which  at  once 
falls  into  line  when  we  acknowledge  relativity  as 
the  basis  of  the  narrative;  by  reason,  first,  of  its 
visual  magnitude  in  the  heavens,  and,  next,  of  the 
great  importance  of  the  functions  which  this  sat- 
ellite discharges  on  behalf  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth. 

Next,  it  is  alleged  that  we  have  days  with  an 
evening  and  a  morning  before  we  have  a  sun  to 
supply  a  measure  of  time  for  them.      Doubtless 


no 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


there  could  be  no  approach  to  anything  like  an 
evening  and  a  morning,  so  long  as  light  was  uni- 
formly diffused.     But  under  the  nebular  theory 
the  work  of  the   first  day  implies  an  initial  con- 
centration of  light;  and,  from  the  time  when  light 
began  to  be  thus  powerfully  concentrated,  would 
there  not  be  an  evening  and  a  morning,  though 
imperfect,  for  any  revolving  solid  of  the  system 
according  as  it  might  be  turned  towards,  or  from,' 
the  center  of  the  highest  luminosity?     To  put  it 
in  the  briefest  words.     When  light  begins,  motion 
begms.     When  motion  begins,  there  begins  also  a 
concentration  of   light.      When  light  is    concen- 
trated, a  relation  of  day  and  night,  and  of  evening 
and  morning,  or  gradual  night  and  gradual  day 
IS  established.     So  the  distinction  of  days  begins' 
at  the  right  place  (v.  5),  and  could  not  rightly  have 
begun  at  any  other  place. 

But  we  have  not  yet  emerged  from  the  net  of  the 
Contradictionist,  who  lays  hold  on  the  vegetation 
verses  (i  i,  12)  to  impeach  the  credit  of  the  Creation 
Story.    The  objection  here  becomes  twofold.    First, 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


Ill 


we  have  vegetation  anterior  to  the  sun ;  and  sec- 
ondly, this  is  not  merely  an  aquatic  vegetation  for 
the  support  of  aquatic  life,  nor  merely  a  rude  and 
primordial  vegetation,  such  as  that  of  and  before 
the  coal-measures,  but  a  vegetation  complete  and 
absolute,  including  fern-grass,  then  the  herb  yield- 
ing  seed,  and  lastly  the   fruit-tree,  yielding  fruit 
after  its  kind,  whose  seed  is  in  itself     Here  is  the 
food  of  mammals  and  even  of  man  provided,  when 
neither    of   them    was  yet   created.      Nay,   when 
neither  of  them  was  on  the  eve  of  existence,  or 
was  to  take  its  place  in  the  created  order,  until 
after  many  a  long  antecedent  form  of  lower  life 
had  found  its  way  into  creation  and  undertaken 
its  office  there. 

First,  as  regards  vegetation  before  the  sun's  per- 
formance of  his  present  function  in  the  heavens  is 
announced.  There  were  light  and  heat,  atmos- 
phere with  its  conditions  of  moist  and  dry,  soil 
prepared  to  do  its  work  in  nutrition.  Can  there 
be  ground  for  saying  that,  with  such  provision 
made,  vegetation  could  not,  would  not,  take  place? 


112 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


Let  us,  for  argument  s  sake,  suppose  that  the  sun 
could  now  recede  into  an  earlier  condition,  could 
go  back  by  some  few  stages  of  that  process  through 
which  he  became  our  sun ;  his  material  less  com- 
pact,  his   form   less    defined,   his    rays    more   in- 
tercepted by  the  "  swaddling-band  "  of  cloud  and 
vapor.    Vegetation  might  be  modified  in  character, 
but  must  it  therefore  cease?     May  we  not  say  that 
a   far   more   violent    paradox    would    have    been 
hazarded,   and   a  sounder   objection    would   have 
lain,  had  the  Mosaic  writer   failed  to  present   to 
us  at  least  an  initial  vegetation  before  the  era  at 
which  the  sun  had  obtained  his  present  degree  of 
definiteness  in  spherical  form,  and  the  conditions 
for  the  transmission  of  his  rays  to  us  had  reached 
substantially  their  present  state  ? 

But,  then,  it  is  fairly  observed  that  the  vegetation 
as  described  is  not  preparatory  and  initial,  but 
full-formed;  also,  that  any  tracing  of  vegetation 
anterior  to  animal  life  in  the  strata  is  ambiguous 
and  obscure.  In  the  age  of  Protozoa,  the  earliest 
living  creatures,  the  indications  of  plants  are  not 


fr 


r//E  CREA  TION  STOR  Y 

113 

determinable,  according  to  the  high  authority  of 
Sir  J.  W.  Dawson.     It  is  observed  by  Canon  Driver 
"that  the  proof  from  science  of  the  existence  of 
plants  before  animals  is  inferential  and  a  priori."^ 
Guyot,  however,  holds  a  directly  contrary  opinion, 
and  says  the  present  remains  indicate  a  large  pres- 
ence of  infusorial  protophytes  in  the  early  seas.^ 
But  suppose  the  point  to  be  conceded.     Undoubt- 
edly, all  a  priori  assumptions  ought  in  inquiries 
of  this  kind  to  be  watched  with  the  utmost  vigi- 
lance and  jealousy.     Still  there  are  limits  beyond 
which  vigilance   and  jealousy  cannot  push   their 
claims.     Is  there  anything  strange  in  the  supposi- 
tion that  the  comparatively  delicate  composition  of 
the   first   vegetable   structures  should  have  given 
way,  and  become  indiscernible  to  us,  amidst  the 
shock  and  pressure  of  firmer  and  more  durable 
material  ?     The  flesh  of  the  mammoth  has,  indeed, 
been  preserved  to  us.  and  eaten  by  dogs  in  our 
own  time,  though  coming  down  from  ages  which 

•  •■  The  Cosmogony  of  Genesis,"  in  The  Expositor.  January,  ,886, 
P'  °'-  •  "  Creation,"  X.,  p.  90. 

8 


114 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


I 


we  have  no  means  of  measuring;  but  then  it  was 
not  exposed  to  the  same  pressure,  and  it  subsisted 
under  conditions  of  temperature  which  were  ade- 
quately antiseptic.     But  has  all  palaeozoic  life  been 
ascertained  by  its  flesh?  or  do  we  not  owe  our 
knowledge  of  many  (perhaps   of  all)   among  the 
earlier  forms  of  animated  life  altogether  to  their 
osseous   structures?     And,  in  cases   where   only 
bone  remains,  is  it  an  extravagant  use  of  argument 
a  priori  to  hold  that  there  must  at  some  former 
time  have   been    flesh  also?     And,   if  flesh,  why 
should  not  vegetable  matter  also  have  subsisted, 
and    have    disappeared?     Canon    Driver,  indeed, 
observes^   that    from   a   very   early   date   animals 
preyed  upon  animals.     Still  the  first  animal  could 
not  prey  upon  himself;  there  must  have  been  veo-e- 
table  pabtilum,  out  of  which  an  animal  body  was 
first  fed  and  so  developed.     "  Before  the  beasts," 
says  Sir  George  Stokes,  "  came  the  plants,  plants 
which  are  necessary  for  their  sustenance." ^ 

»  The  Expositor,  January,  1886,  p.  29. 
'  Letter  to  Mr.  Elflein,  Aug.  14.  1883. 


T//E  CREA  TION  STOR  V. 


115 


Next,  with  respect  to  the  objection  that  the  vege- 
tation of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  verses  is  a  per- 
fected vegetation,  and  that  there  existed  no  such 
vegetation  before  animal  life  began.     But  why  are 
we  to  suppose  that  the  Mosaic  writer  intended  to 
say  that  such  a  vegetation  did  exist  before  animal 
life  began  ?     For  no  other  reason  than  this  :  hav- 
ing mentioned  the  first  introduction  of  vegetable 
life,  he  carries  it  on,  without  breaking  his  narrative, 
to  its  perfection.     In  so  proceeding,  he  does  exactly 
what   the   historian    does   when,  for  the  sake  of 
clearer   comprehension,   he   brings   one  series    of 
events  from  its  inception  to  its  close,  although  in 
order  of  time   the   beginning   only,  and    not   the 
completion,  belongs   to   the   epoch   at   which   he 
introduces  it.     What  I  have  called  the  rule  of  rela- 
tivity, the  intention,  namely,  to  be  intelligible  to 
man,  seems  to  show  the  reason  of  his  arrangement. 
If  his  meaning  was,  "  The  beautiful  order  of  trees, 
plants  and  grasses  which  you  see  around  you  had 
its  first  beginnings  in  the  area  when  living  creatures 
were  about  to  commence  their  movements  in  the 


ii6 


THE  CREATION  STORY, 


waters  and  on  the  earth,  and  all  this  was  part  of 
the  fatherly  work  of  God  on  your  behalf" — such 
meaning  was  surely  well  expressed,  expressed  after 
a  sound  and  workman-like  fashion,  in  the  text  of 
the  Creation  Story  as  it  stands. 

I  will  next  notice  the  objection  that  the  Mosaic 
writer  takes  (according  to  the  received  version)  no 
notice  of  the  great  age  of  reptiles,  but  proceeds  at 
once  from  the  creation  of  marine  animals  (v.  20)  to 
the  fowl  that  may  "  fly  above  the  earth  in  the  open 
firmament  of  heaven."  He  thus  passes  over  with- 
out notice  the  amphibians,  the  reptiles  proper,  the 
insects,  and  the  marsupial  or  early  mammals,  on  his 
way  to  the  birds.  It  is  added  that  he  brackets  the 
birds  with  the  fishes,  and  thus  makes  them  of  the 
same  date. 

It  is  requisite  here  to  observe,  with  respect  to 
birds,  that  Professor  Dana*  writes  of  the  narrative 
in  Genesis  as  follows:  Speaking  of  the  relation 
between  the  Mosaic  narrative  and  the  ascertained 
facts  of  science,  he  uses  these  words:  **The  accord- 

*  "Creation,"  as  before,  p.  215. 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


117 


4.  Birds. 

5.  Mammals. 

6.  Man. 


ance  is  exact  with  the  succession  made  out  for  the 
earliest  species  of  these  grand  divisions,  if  we 
except  the  division  of  birds,  about  which  there  is 
doubt." 

Owen,  however,  in  his  "  Palaeontology,"  *  places 
animal  life  in  six  classes,  according  to  the  following 
order,  namely: 

1.  Invertebrates. 

2.  Fishes. 

3.  Reptiles. 

In  the  more  recent  "  Manual "  of  Professor  Prest- 
wich  (1886),  the  order  of  seniority  stands  as  fol- 
lows: 

1.  Cryptogamous  Plants.  4.  Mammals. 

2.  Fishes.  5.  Man. 

3.  Birds. 

In  the  "  Manual "  ^  of  Etheridge  we  are  supplied 
with  the  following  series,  after  fishes:  i.  Fossil 
reptiles.  2.  Ornithosauria ;  flying  animals,  which 
combined  the  character  of  reptiles  with  those  of  birds!' 
3.  The  first  birds  of  the    secondary  rocks,  with 

*  Second  edition,  1861,  p.  5. 
«  Phillips's  "  Manual  of  Geology,"  Part  II.,  by  R.  Etheridge,  F.R.S., 
Chap.  XXV.,  pp.  511-520. 


ii8 


THE  CREA  TJON  STOR  Y. 


"feathers  in  all  respects  similar  to  those  of  existing 
birds."     4.  Mammals. 

It  thus  appears  that  much  turns  on  the  definition 
of  a  bird,  and  that  in  this  point,  as  in  others,  it 
is  hard,  on  the  evidence  thus  presented,  seriously 
to  impeach  the  character  of  the  Creation  Story. 
Largely  viewed,  the  place  of  birds,  as  an  order  in 
creation,  is  given  us  by  our  scientific  teachers,  or, 
at  the  very  least,  as  I  have  shown,  by  many  and 
recognized  authorities  among  them,  between  fislies 
and  the  class   of  mammals.      It  is  a  gratuitous 
assumption  that  the  Mosaist  intends  to  assign  to 
them  the  same  date  as  fishes ;  he  places  them  in  the 
same  day,  but  then  we  have  to  bear  in  mind  that 
he  more  than  once  gives  several  actions  to  the  same 
day.      He  sets  them  after  the  fishes ;  and  the  fairer 
construction  surely  is,  not  that  they  were  contem- 
poraneous, but   that   they  were   subsequent.      In 
verse  21,  if  not  in  verse  20,  the  emergence  into  life 
of  the  one  order  is  absolutely  severed  from  that  of 
the  other.     He  forbears,  it  is  true,  to  take  separate 
notice  of  amphibious  reptiles,  insects,  and  marsu- 


THE  CREATION  STORY. 


119 


pials.  And  why  ?  All  these,  variously  important 
in  themselves,  fill  no  large.place — some  of  them  no 
place  at  all — in  the  view  and  in  the  concerns  of 
primitive  man ;  and,  having  man  for  his  object,  he 
forbears,  on  his  guiding  principle  of  relativity,  to 
encumber  his  narrative  with  them. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  demarcation  of  the  order  of 
birds  in  creation  is  less  sharply  drawn  than  that 
(for  example)  of  fishes  and  of  mammals,  may  we  not 
be  permitted  to  trace  a  singular  propriety  in  the 
diminution,  so  to  speak,  of  emphasis,  with  which 
the  Mosaist  gives  to  their  introduction  a  more 
qualified  distinctness  of  outline,  by  simply  subjoin- 
ing them  (v.  20)  to  the  aquatic  creation  ?  Does  not 
that  diminution  of  emphasis  accompany,  and  corres- 
pond with,  an  inferior  breadth  of  distinction  in  the 
things  themselves? 

I  must  not,  however,  be  understood  to  assert  that 
the  great  reptile  kingdom  is  omitted  from  the  nar- 
rative. I  find  there  are  Hebraists  who  find  nothing 
in  the  Tannin^  which  seems  to  be  unhappily  ren- 
dered by  the  word  "  whales,"  to  exclude  the  great 


I20 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


reptiles  from  the  scope  of  its  meaning.  In  this 
view,  this  charge  of  omission,  small  as  its  signifi- 
cance would  be  if  proven,  falls  to  the  ground 

I  have  now  made  bold  to  touch  on  the  principal 
objections  popularly  known.     They  run  into  details 
wh.ch  .t  has  not  been  possible  fully  to  notice,  but 
wh,ch   seem  to  be  without  force,  except  such  as 
they  derive  from  the  illegitimate  process  of  holding 
down  the  Mosaic  writer  in  his  narration,  so  short 
so  Simple,  so  sublime,  by  restraints  which  the  ordi- 
nary historian,  though  he  has  plenty  of  auxiliary 
expedients,  and  is  under  no  restraint  of  space,  finds 
himself  obliged  to  shake  off  if  he  wishes  to  be 
readily  and  popularly  understood.     On  the  intro- 
duction of  the  great  or  recent  mammals,  and  of 
man.  as  the  objector  is  silent.  I  remain  silent  also 

It  would  be  uncandid.  however,  not  to  notice  the 
"creeping  thing"  of  verses  24.  25,  and  26.  In  these 
verses  the  "  creeping  thing  "  is  distinguished  from 
cattle,  and  undoubtedly  appears  upon  the  scene  as 
>f  It  were  a  formation  wholly  new.  If  the  Mosaist 
really  mtended  to  convey  that  this  was  the  first 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


121 


appearance  of  any  creeping  thing  in  creation,  there 
is.  I  suppose,  no  doubt  that  he  is  at  war  with  the 
firmly  established  witness  of  natural  science.   Guyot, 
indeed,  says'  that  these  creeping  things  are  not  rep- 
tiles, but  are  the  smaller  mammals,  rats,  mice,  and 
the  like.     If.  however,  the  common  rendering  be 
maintained,  it  may  be  just  worth  while  to  susj^est 
a  possible  explanation.      It  is  as  follows.      These 
creeping   things    were   a   very    minor  fact  in  the 
scheme  of  creation ;  so  that  the  purpose  of  the  re- 
lator, and  the  comparative  importance  of  the  facts, 
may  here,  as  elsewhere,  have  an  influence  upon  the 
mode  of  handling  them.     It  is  fit  to  be  observed 
that  he  never  mentions  insects  at  all,  as  if  they 
were  too  insignificant  to  find  a  place  among  the 
larger  items  of  his   account;   as  if  he  advisedly 
selected  his  materials,  and  sifted  off  the  less  im- 
portant among  them.     And  there  does  seem  to  be 
some  license  or  looseness  in  his  method  of  treat- 
ing these  creeping  things;  for  while  he  severs  them 
from   fish,  fowl,  and  beast,  in  the  verses  I  have 

*  "  Creation,"  p.  120. 


122 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  K 


named,  and  again  in  verse  30  from  fowl  and  from 
beast,  yet  in  verse  28,  when  the  great  charter  of 
dominion  is  granted  to  man,  he  sums  up  in  three 
divisions  only,  and  makes  man  the  lord  "  over  the 
fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and 
over   every   living   thing   that    moveth    upon   the 
earth."     Reptiles  appear  to  have  passed  out  of  his 
view,  either  wholly,  or  so  far  as  not  to  deserve  sep- 
arate mention,  and  it  may  seem  likely  that  he  did 
not  think  their  importance  such  as  to  call  for  a  par- 
ticular and  defined  place,  and,  while  according  to 
them    incidental  mention,  did  not   mean   to    give 
them  such  a  place,  in  the  chronological  order  of 
creation.     Let  the  Contradictionist  make  the  most 
he  can  out  of  this  secondary  matter:    it  will  not 
greatly  avail. 

If,  on  the  whole,  such  be  a  fair  statement  of  aro-u- 
ments  and  results,  we  may  justly  render  our  thanks 
to  Dana,  Guyot,^  Dawson,  Stokes,  and  other  scien- 

1  In  the  preface  to  Guyot's  "  Creation  "  will  be  found  some  account 
of  the  recent  literature  of  this  subject.  I  must  also  mention  a  valu- 
able pamphlet  entitled  "The  Higher  Criticism,"  by  Mr.  Rust,  Rector 
of  Westerfield,  Suffolk.     It  sets  forth  the  scope  of  the  negative  criti- 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


123 


tific  authorities,  who  seem  to  find  no  cause  for  sup- 
porting the  broad  theory  of  contradiction.     I  am 
well  aware  of  my  inability  to  add  an  atom  of  weight 
to  their  judgments.     Yet  I  have  ventured  to  at- 
tempt applying  to  this  great  case  what  I  hold  to  be 
the  just  laws  of  a  narrative  intended  to  instruct  and 
to  persuade,  and  thus  finding  a  key  to  the  true  con- 
struction of  the  chapter.     For  myself,  I  cannot  but 
at  present  remain  before  and  above  all  things  im- 
pressed with  the  profound  and  marvellous  wisdom, 
that  has  guided  the  human  instrument,  whether  it 
were  pen  or  tongue,  which  was  first  commissioned 
from  on  high,  to  hand  onwards  for  our  admiration 
and  instruction   this    wonderful,  this   unparalleled 
relation.     If  I  am  a  "  reconciler,"  I  shall  not  call 
myself  a  mere  apologist,  for  I  aim  at  a  positive,  not 
merely  a  defensive  result,  and  claim  that  my  reader 
should  feel  how  true  it  is  that  in  this  brief  relation 
he  possesses  an  inestimable  treasure.     And  I  sub- 

cism  at  large,  and  recommends  (p.  30)  to  "  have  patience  for  a  while, 
and  wail  to  see  the  issue."  Similar  advice  has,  I  understand,  been 
given  in  the  recent  Charge  of  the  learned  Bishop  of  Oxford. 


124 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


mit  to  those,  who  may  have  closely  followed  my 
remarks,  that   my    words    were   not   wholly    idle 
words,  when,  without  presuming  to  lay  down  any 
universal  and  inflexible  proposition,  and  without 
questioning  any  single  contention  of  persons  spe- 
cially qualified,  I  said  that  the  true  question  was 
whether  the  words  of  the  Mosaic   writer,  in   his 
opening  chapter,  taken  as  a  whole,  do  not  stand, 
according  to  our  present  knowledge,  in  such  a  rela- 
tion to  the  facts  of  Nature  as  to  warrant  and  re- 
quire, thus  far,  the  conclusion  that   the  Ordainer 
of  Nature,  and  the  Giver  or  Guide  of  the  Creation 
Story,  are  one  and  the  same. 

Postscript  to  the  Creation  Story. 

Mankind  have  traveled  not  by  one  but  by  several 
roads  into  polytheism.  It  took  a  thousand  years 
from  the  institution  of  the  Mosaic  legislation  to 
place  the  chosen  people,  as  a  whole,  in  a  state  of 
security  from  this  insidious  mischief  But  all 
along  a  powerful  apparatus  of  means  had  been  at 
work,  which  was  strengthened  from  time  to  time  as 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y, 


125 


Divine  Providence  saw  fit.     The  foundation,  how- 
ever, had  been  laid  in  the  Creation  Story.     It  was 
impossible  for  those  who  received  it  either  to  travel 
or  to  glide  into  polytheism  by  either  of  the  two 
widest  roads  then  open,  the  system  of  Nature-wor- 
ship, and  the  deification  of  Heroes.     No  one  could 
make  the  sun  his  God,  who  really  believed  that 
there  was  a  God  who  created  the  sun.     Even  more 
perhaps  was   it    needful  that   the   line   should  be 
clearly   and    sharply   drawn    between    Deity  and 
humanity,  and  that  a  barrier  not  capable  of  being 
surmounted  should  exclude  kings  and  heroes  from 
deification.     In  the  Homeric  or  Olympian  system, 
the   worship  of  inanimate   nature  was  studiously 
shut  out;   but   the  beginnings   of  deification  are 
visible  in  the  case  of  Heracles,^  whose  very  self 
(avrhq)  sits  at  the  banquets  of  the  Immortals  ;  also 
of  the  twin  brothers.  Castor  and  Pollux,  who  live 
and  die  on  alternate  days,  and  who,  when  they 
live,  receive  honors  like  the  gods.     In  the  height 
of  their  civilization,  the  Romans  set  up  their  living 

1  Od.  XI.,  302-305. 


126 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


emperors  as  divinities.  But  neither  they  nor  the 
Greeks  believed  in"  the  creation  of  man  by  the 
Almighty.  The  old  cosmogonies  of  the  heathen 
placed  matter  and  other  impersonal  entities  in  a 
position  of  priority  to  their  gods,  who  merely  take 
their  turn  to  come  upon  the  scene.  Only  (I  be 
lieve)  in  the  Hebrew  stoo'  is  the  Deity  anterior 
without  which  condition  he  cannot  be  supreme. 

Besides  being  anterior,  he  is  separate.  Did  we 
find  m  the  pages  of  the  Old  Testament  a  stor^  of 
deification,  we  should  at  once  know  it  to  be  spuri- 
ous, because  in  contradiction,  alike  as  to  letter  and 
as  to  spirit,  of  the  entire  context 

It  is.  I  hope,  not  presumptuous  to  proceed  a  step 
further,  and  to  say  that  this  broad  and  effectual 
severance  was   necessary,   not    only   for  the   old 
dispensation,  but  for  the   new :    not   only  for  the 
exclusion  of  idolatry  in  all  its  forms,  but  for  the 
establishment  of  the    Incarnation.     A    marriage 
would  be  no  marriage,  unless  the  individuality  of 
the  parties  to  it  were  determinate  and  ineffaceable 
The  Christian  dogma  of  the  two  natures  in  one 


THE  CREA  TION  STOR  Y. 


127 


Person  would  be  in  no  sense  distinctive,  if  it  had 
been  habitual  in  the  preparatory  dispensation,  as 
in  some  of  the  religions  outside  it,  for  man  prop- 
erly so  called  to  pass  into  proper  deity.     Reunion 
was  to  be  effected  between  the  Almighty  and  his 
prime  earthly  creature  by  the  bridge  to  be  con- 
structed over  that  flood,  the  flood  of  sin,  which 
parted  them;  and,  to  sustain  that  bridge,  it  was 
needful  that  the  natures  to  be  brought  into  union 
should  stand  apart  like  piers  perfectly  defined,  each 
on  its  own  separate  and   solid  foundation.     And 
the  firm  foundations  of  those  piers  were  laid,  to 
endure  throughout  all  time,  by  the  great  Creation 
Story. 


III. 


THE  OFFICE  AND   WORK  OF  THE  OLD 
TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE. 


We  may  often  hear  it  said,  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  an  introduction  to  the  New.     Much  more 
is  contained  in  these  words  than  an  irreflective  reci- 
tal may  enable  us  to  grasp.     Yet  they  do  not  seem 
to  cover  the  whole  ground.     It  seems  necessary  to 
glance  first  at  the  conjoint  function  of  the  two  Tes- 
taments, in  order  to  measure  fully  the  exalted  mis- 
sion of  the  earlier.    As  the  heavens  cover  the  earth 
from  east  to  west,  so  the  Scripture  covers  and  com- 
prehends the  whole  field  of  the  destiny  of  man. 
The  whole   field   is   possessed   by  its   moral   and 
potential  energy,  as  a  provision  enduring  to  the 
end  of  time.     But  it  is  marvellous  to  consider  how 
large  a  portion  of  it  lies  directly  within  the  domain 
of  the  Old  Testament.     The  interval  to  be  bridged 

I20 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT.  ^^ 

over  between  the  prophet  Malachi  and  the  Advent 
is  not  one  of  such  breadth  as  wholly  to  abolish  a 
continuity,  which  was  also  upheld  by  visible  insti- 
tutions divinely  ordained,  and  possibly  even  by  the 
production  of  certain  of  the   Psalms   themselves. 
It  is  further  narrowed  in  so  far  as  something  of  a 
divine  afflatus  is  to  be  found  in  the  books  which 
form  the  Apocrypha,  which  are  esteemed  by  a  large 
division  of  Christendom  to  be  actually  a  part  of  the 
Sacred  Canon,  and  which  in  the  Church  of  England 
have  a  place  of  special,  though  secondary  honor. 
At  the  more  remote  end  of  the  scale,  it  is  difficult 
to  name  a  date  for  the  beginning  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures.    The  corroborative  legends  of  Assyria,* 
ascertained   by  modern   research,  concerning  the 
Creation  and  the  Flood,  to  which  we  know  not 
what  further  additions  may  still  progressively  be 
made,  carry  us  up,=i  it  may  be  roughly  said, 
"  To  the  FIRST  syllable  of  recorded  time." 

>  These  legends  will  be  separately  noticed  later  in  the  present  series 
of  essays. 

»  See  No.  VI.  of  this  series  for  the  ground  of  the  argument,  which 
as  here  presented,  can  only  have  in  a  certain  measure  the  character 
of  an  assumption. 

9 


I30 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


Historic  evidence  does  not  at  present  warrant  our 
carrying  backwards  the  probable  existence  of  the 
Adamic  race  for  more  than  some  such  epoch  as 
from  4000  to  6000  years  before  the  advent  of  Christ. 
And  if,  as  appears  likely,  the  Creation  Story  has 
come  down  from  the  beginning,  and  the  Flood 
legend  is  also  contemporary,  the  Christian  may  feel 
a  lively  interest  in  observing  that,  during  by  far  the 
larger  portion  of  human  history,  the  refreshing  rain 
of  divine  inspiration  has  descended,  with  compara- 
tively short  intervals,  from  heaven  upon  earth,  and 
the  records  of  it  have  been  collected  and  trans- 
mitted in  the  sacred  volume.  Apart  from  every 
question  of  literary  form  and  of  detail,  we  now 
trace  the  probable  materials  of  the  oldest  among 
our  sacred  books  far  back  beyond  Moses  and  his 
time.  And  so  we  have  a  marvellous  picture  pre- 
sented to  us,  not  only  all-prevailing  for  the  imagi- 
nation, the  heart,  and  the  conscience  of  man,  but 
also,  as  I  suppose,  quite  unexampled  in  its  histori- 
cal appeal  to  the  human  intelligence.  The  whole 
human  record  respecting  Adam  and  his  descend- 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  O  UTLINE.  j 

ants  is  covered  and  bound  together  in  that  same 
unwearied  and  inviolable  continuity,  which  weaves 
into   a   tissue  the   six  Mosaic  days  of  gradually 
developed  creation,  and  fastens  them   on   at   the 
hither  end  to  the  gradually  advancing  stages  of 
Adamic,  and,  in  due  course,  of  subsequent  history. 
We  find  then,  that,  apart  from  the  question  of 
moral  purity  and  elevation,  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  Testament  appear  to  distinguish  themselves 
from  the  sacred  books  possessed  by  various  nations 
in  several  vital   particulars.     They  deal  with  the 
Adamic  race  as  a  whole.     They  begin  with  the 
preparation  of  the  earth  for  the  habitation  and  use 
of  mankind.     They  then,  from  his  first  origin,  draw 
downwards  a  thread  of  properly  personal  history, 
with  notices,  most  remarkable  in  their  character' 
though  contracted  in  space,  of  divergent  families  of 
men.     As,  from  being  personal,  the  narrative  be- 
comes national-that  is  to  say,  from  the  Exodus 
onwards  this  thread  is  enlarged  into  a  web ;  and 
eventually  it  includes  the  whole  race  of  man.    Our 
Scriptures  are  not  given  once  for  all,  as  were  the 


132 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


works  of  Confucius  or  Zoroaster  in  their  respective 
spheres.      They  do  not  deliver  a  mere   code  of 
morals  or  of  legislation,  but  their  character  is  pre- 
eminently historical,  while  they  purport  to  disclose 
a  penetrating  and  continuing  superintendence  from 
on  high  over  human  affairs.     And  the  whole  is 
doubly  woven  into  one  formation.     First,  by  a  chain 
of  divine  action,  and  of  human   instructors  acting 
under  divine  authority,  which  is  sustained  and  rep- 
resented by  national  institutions,  and  is  never  bro- 
ken until  the  time  when  political  ser\'itude,  like 
another  Eg>^ptian  captivity,  has  well-nigh  become 
the  fixed  destiny  of  the  Hebrew  nation.     Secondly, 
by  the  Messianic  bond,  by  the  light  of  prophecy 
shining  in  a  dark  place,  and  directing  onwards  the 
minds  of  devout  men  to  the  "fulness  of  time"  and 
the  birth  of  the  wondrous  Child,  so  as  effectually 
to  link  the  older  sacred  books  to  the  dispensation 
of  the  Advent,  and   to  carry  forward  their  office 
through  an  action  both  of  and  in  the  Church,  until 
the  final  day  of  doom.     May  it  not  boldly  be  asked, 
what  parallel  to  such  an  outline  as  this  can  be 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE,  133 

supplied  by  any  of  the  sacred  books  preserved 
among  any  other  of  the  races  of  the  world  ?  So 
far,  then,  the  office  and  work  of  the  Old  Testament, 
as  presented  to  us  by  its  own  contents,  is  without 
a  compeer  among  the  old  religions.  It  deals  with 
the  case  of  man  as  a  whole.  It  covers  all  time. 
It  is  alike  adapted  to  every  race  and  region  of  the 
earth. 

And  how,  according  to  the  purport  of  the  Old 
Testament,  may  that  case  best  be  summed  up?  In 
these  words :  it  is  a  history  first  of  sin,  and  next  of 
redemption. 

Our  Lord  has  emphatically  said,  '^  They  that  be 
whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick" 
(Matt.  9:12);  and  this  saying  goes  to  the  root  of 
the  whole  matter.  Is  there,  or  is  there  not,  a  deep 
disease  in  the  world,  which  overflows  it  like  a 
deluge,  and  submerges,  in  a  great  degree,  the  fruit- 
bearing  capacities  of  our  nature?  Are  we,  as  a 
race,  whole,  or  are  we  sick,  and  profoundly  sick  ? 

I  think  that,  to  an  impartial  eye  and  to  a  thought- 
ful mind,  it  must  seem  strange  that  there  should  be 


134 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


a  doubt  as  to  the  answer  to  be  given  to  this  ques- 
tion.    It  seems  more  easy  to  comprehend  the  men- 
tal action  of  those  whom  the  picture  of  the  actual 
world,  as  it  is  unrolled  before  them,  tempts,  by  its 
misery,  guilt,  and  shame,  into  doubt  of  the  being  of 
God,  than  of  persons  who  can  view  that  picture, 
and  who  cannot  fail  to  observe  the  dominant  part 
borne  by  man  in  determining  its  character,  and  yet 
can  make  it  a  subject  of  question  whether  man  is 
or  is  not  morally  diseased.     Veils  may  have  been 
cast  between  our  vision  and  the  truth  of  the  case 
by  the  relative  excellence  of  some  select  human 
spirits ;  by  the  infinitely  varied  degrees  and  forms 
of  the  universal  malady;  by  the  exaggerations  and 
the  narrownesses  of  outlying  schools  of  theology; 
and  lastly  by  the  remarkable  circumstance,  that 
races,  above  all  the  extraordinarily  gifted  race  of 
the  ancient  Greeks,  have  lived  on  into  large  devel- 
opments of  art,  of  intellect,  and  of  material  power, 
without  creating  or  retaining  any  strong  concep- 
tion of  moral  evil,  under  the  only  aspect  which 
reveals  its  deeper  features;    that  aspect,  namely. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE. 


135 


which  presents  it  to  the  mind  as  a  departure  from 
the  supreme  and  perfect  standard,  the  will  of  God. 
But    these    disguises    are    pierced   through    and 
through  by  ever  so  little  of  calm  reflection.     We 
can  conceive  how  generations,  blinded   by   long 
abuse  to  the  character  of  moral  evil,  could  well 
contrive  to  blink  and  pass  by  the  question.     But 
we,  who  inherit  the  Christian  tradition,  ethical  as  it 
is  not  less  than  dogmatic,  cannot,  I  think,  deny  the 
prevalence,  perhaps  not  even  the  preponderance,  of 
moral  evil  in  the  world,  without  some  subtle  and 
preliminary   process   of   degeneracy   in    our   own 
habit  of  mind.     We  shall  find  that,  in  renouncing 
that  tradition,  we  return  to  a  conception  which 
admitted  to  be  evil  only  that  which  was  so  vio- 
lently in  conflict  with  the  comfort  of  human  society 
as  to  require  condemnation  and  repression  by  its 
self-preserving  laws.     The  gap  between  these  two 
conceptions  of  our  state,  the  one  furnished  by  dis- 
ordered nature,  the  other  by  divine  grace,  is  im- 
measurable. 

And  I  think  it  will  not  be  denied  that,  in  describ- 


136  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 

ing  vividly  the  fact  of  sin  in  tlie  world,  the  Scriptures 
of  the  Old  Testament  proceed  upon  lines,  which 
have  also  been  clearly  drawn  in  the  general  con- 
sciousness at  least   of  the  Christian   ages.    This 
sense  of  sin.  which  lies  like  a  huge  black  pall  over 
the  entire  face  of  humanity,  has  been  all  along  the 
point  of  departure  for  every  preacher,  writer,  and 
thmker  within  the  Hebrew  or  the  Christian  fold. 
And  it  is  the  gradual  and  palpable  decline  of  it  in 
the  literature  and  society  of  to-day,  that  is  ihe 
darkest  among  all  the  signs  now  overshadowing 
what  is  in  some  respects  the  bright  and  hopeful 
promise  of  the  future. 

Nor  can  any  one,  who  believes  in  the  existence 
of  God.  wonder  that  sin  is  described  as  a  deviation 
from  the  order  of  nature,  as  a  foreign  element,  not 
belonging  to  the  original  creation  of  divine  desi<.n 

but  introduced  into  it  by  special  causes.     At  this' 

point  we  come  to  what  is  known  as  the  Fall  of  man. 

and  to  the  narration  of  that  fall  as  it  is  given  in  the' 

Book  of  Genesis. 

For  the  moment,  let  us   simply  note  what  is 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE, 


137 


unquestionable:  that  the  Old  Testament,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  deals  with  the  conception  of 
sin,  and  of  its  opposite,  as  forming  one  side  of  its 
special  work,  and  in  this  capital  respect  entirely 
differs  from  all  the  other  documents  of  profane 
antiquity. 

Against  the  narrative  of  the  Fall,  the  negative 
criticism  has  been  actively  employed.  The  action 
ascribed  to  the  serpent  is  declared  to  be  incredible ; 
the  punishment  of  Adam,  disproportioned  to  the 
offense,  which  consisted  only  in  an  action  not  essen- 
tially immoral,  but  only  wrong  because  it  was  pro- 
hibited; the  punishment  of  all  mankind,  for  the 
fault  of  one,  is  denounced  as  intolerably  unjust 

Now  let  us  set  entirely  aside,  for  the  moment, 
the  form  of  this  narrative,  and  consider  only  its 
substance.  Let  us  deal  with  it  as  if  it  were  a  para- 
ble ;  in  which  the  severance  between  the  form  and 
the  substance  is  acknowledged  and  familiar.  In 
proposing  this,  I  do  not  mean  to  make  on  my  own 
part  any  definitive  surrender  of  the  form  as  it 
stands,  or  any  admission  adverse  to  it.    There  is. 


138 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


it  may  be,  high  and  early  Christian  authority  even 
for  surrendering  the  form.  I  only  seek  to  pass 
within  it,  and  to  put  the  meaning  and  substance  of 
the  Fall  Story  upon  their  trial. 

In  this  relation,  we  find  a  certain  aggregate  of 
objects,  which  we  are  now  asked  to  treat  as  if  they 
were  simply  significant  figures.  There  are  pre- 
sented to  us  the  man,  with  the  woman,  in  a  garden; 
the  serpent,  with  its  faculty  of  speech  and  subtle 
thought;  the  two  trees,  of  knowledge  and  of  life 
respectively;  a  fruit  forbidden  by  divine  command, 
but  eaten  in  defiance  of  it;  and,  after  certain  re- 
proofs and  intimations,  ejectment  from  the  garden 
in  consequence.  In  this  ejectment  is  involved  a 
great  deterioration  of  outward  state.  But  it  is  not 
a  matter  of  outward  state  alone.  A  deterioration 
of  inward  nature  is  also  exhibited,  in  the  derange- 
ment of  its  functions.  A  new  sense  of  shame  bears 
witness  to  the  revolt^  of  its  lower  against  its  higher 

1  See  Delitzsch,  who,  in  accordance  with  patristic  authorities,  writes 
as  follows:  "The  first  consequence  of  the  Fall  was  shame.  The 
nakedness  of  mankind  is  no  longer  the  appearance  of  their  inno- 
cence.   Their  corporeity  has  fallen  from  the  dominion  of  the  spirit. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE, 


139 


elements;  and,  for  the  first  time,  exhibits  it  to  us 
as  a  disordered,  and  therefore  a  dishonored  thing. 
Together  with  all  this,  there  is  the  outline  of  a 
promise  that,  from  among  the  progeny  of  the  fallen 
pair  a  Deliverer,  born  of  woman,  shall  arise,  who, 
at  the  cost  of  personal  suffering,  shall  strike  at  the 
very  seat  of  intelligence  in  the  creature  set  before 
us  as  the  living  emblem  of  evil,  and  so  shall  destroy 
its  power.  In  this  relation,  on  the  one  hand,  many 
modern  objectors  have  discovered  an  intolerable 
folly,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Christian  tradition 
of  eighteen  centuries  has  acknowledged  a  profound 
philosophy,  and  a  painful  and  faithful  delineation  of 
an  indisputable  truth. 

Now  what  is  the  substance  conveyed  under  this 
form  ?  The  Almighty  has  brought  into  existence 
a  pair  of  human  beings.  He  has  laid  upon  them  a 
law  of  obedience,  not  to  a  Decalogue  or  a  code, 
setting  forth  things  essentially  good,  and  the  re- 
verse  of  them,  but    simply  to   himself;    and   as 

Their  beholding  has  become  a  sensuous  imagining,  and  the  flesh 
excites  their  fleshly  passions  "  ("  Old  Testament  History  of  Redemp- 
tion," p.  23.     Edinburg:  Clark,  1881). 


140 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


Uttered  by  him,  to  a  rule  of  feeding  and  not  feed- 
ing. The  point,  at  which  this  representation  first 
brings  into  view  an  independent  or  objective  law, 
lies  in  the  prohibition  to  feed  upon  a  tree  which 
imparts  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  That  is 
to  say,  the  pair,  as  they  then  were,  were  forbidden 
to  aspire  to  the  possession  of  that  knowledge.  The 
dispensation  under  which  for  the  time  they  lived, 
was  a  dispensation  of  pure  obedience. 

The  question  whether  this  was  reasonable  or 
unreasonable  cannot  be  answered  upon  abstract 
grounds,  but  resolves  itself  into  another  question, 
whether  it  was  appropriate  or  inappropriate  to  the 
state  of  the  beings  thus  addressed,  and  to  their 
relation  towards  Him  who  gave  the  command. 
Some  may  assume  that  Adam  was  what  so  great  a 

writer  as  Milton  has  represented  him  to  be 

*•  For  contemplation  he  and  valor  formed/* » 
and  not  for  contemplation  only,  but  for  intricate 
inquiry  and  debate  on  subjects  such  as  tax  all  the 
powers  of  a  cultivated  intellect.     And  indeed,  if  we 

*  ••  Paradise  Lost,"  IV.  297. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE. 


141 


take  the  developed  man,  such  as  we  know  him  in 
Christian  and  civilized  society,  it  seems  plain  that 
to  lay  down  for  him  a  law  of  life  which  did  not 
include  the  consideration  of  essential  good  and 
evil,  would  not  only  stunt  and  starve  his  faculties, 
but  would  shock  his  moral  sense. 

It  may  be  said  that  a  single  act  of  disobedience, 
even  after  full  warning,  could  not  so  deprave  a 
character  as  reasonably  to  entail  upon  the  offender 
a  total  change  of  condition. 

Now,  I  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  this  objec- 
tion, so  stated,  unwarrantably  assumes  that  the  same 
rule  must  govern  the  case  of  the  developed,  and 
of  the  undeveloped  or  infant  man.  The  effect  of  a 
single  action  upon  the  entire  being  may,  for  all  we 
know,  have  been  far  greater  when  the  moral  organ- 
ism was  simple  and  homogeneous,  than  it  would 
be  now  when  that  organism  has  become  highly 
complete,  elaborate,  and  diversified. 

Further,  I  would  observe  that  the  school  of 
critics  which  is  apt  to  take  this  objection  is  the 
very  school  which,  utterly  rejecting  the  literal  form 


142 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


of  the  narrative,  is  bound  to  look  at  it  as  parable. 
When  so  contemplated,  its  lesson  is  that  rebellion, 
deliberate  and  wilful  (and  this   is   nothing   less), 
against  just  and  sovereign  authority,  fundamentally 
changes  for  the  worse  the  character  of  the  rebel. 
It  places  him  in  a  new  category  of  motive  and 
action,  in  which  the  repetition  of  the  temptation 
ordinarily  begets  the  repetition  of  the  sin;  and  from 
this  point  of  view  it  is  mercy,  not  cruelty,  which 
meets  this  deterioration  of  character,  not  with  a 
final  and  judicial  abandonment,  but  with  a  deteri- 
oration and  reduction  of  state,  such  as  to  teach  the 
lesson  of  retribution,  and  to  serve  as  an  emphatic 
warning  against  further  sin. 

Scripture  will  lie  before  us  in  a  true  perspective, 
when  we  come  to  understand  that  eveiywhere  the 
will  of  God  is  in  accord  with  the  righteousness  of 
God.  So  that  what  is  promised  or  inflicted  by 
command  is  also,  under  an  invariable  law,  prom- 
ised or  inflicted  by  self-acting  consequence,  ac- 
cording to  the  constitution  of  the  nature  we  have 
received.    Religion  and  philosophy  thus  join  hands. 


i 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE. 


143 


and  never  part  them.  When,  therefore,  we  are 
told  that  Adam  after  his  sin  was  shut  out  from 
Eden,  we  are  not  entitled  to  say,  how  hard  that  he 
could  not  be  allowed  to  return,  and  then  perhaps 
to  amend.  What  is  inflicted  as  penalty  from  with- 
out is  acted  and  suflered  in  character  within.  There 
is  no  record  of  the  repentance  of  Adam ;  and  even 
if  there  were,  yet  repentance  is  not  innocence. 
There  must  be  a  remedial  process;  and,  until  that 
process  has  been  faithfully  accomplished,  the  ante- 
rior state  and  habit  of  mind  cannot  be  resumed. 

I  do  not  argue  with  those  who  say  this  is  a  bad 
constitution  of  things,  under  which  sin  engenders 
sinfulness  ;  some  wiser  one  might  surely  have  been 
devised.  This  is  to  say,  "Had  I  been  in  the 
Creator's  place,  I  would  have  managed  the  business 
of  creation  better."  It  is  for  us  not  merely  as 
Christians,  but  as  men  of  sense,  to  eschew  specu- 
lations which,  not  to  mention  their  overweening 
presumption,  even  their  authors  must  see  to  be 
wholly  devoid  of  practical  effect.  We  shall  do 
better  to  assume  the  great  moral  laws,  and  the 


144  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 

constitution  of  our   nature,  as  ultimate  facts,  as 
boundaries  which  it  is  futile  to  attempt  to  overstep. 
To  my  mind,  then,  the  narrative  of  the  Fall  is  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  a  grand  and  compre- 
hensive philosophy,  and  the  objections  taken  to  it 
are  the  product  of  narrower  and  shallower  modes 
of  thought.     Introducing  us  to  Adamic  man  in  his 
first  stage  of  existence,  a  stage  not  of  savagery  but 
of  childhood,  it  exhibits  to  us  the  gigantic  drama 
of  his  evolution  in  its  opening.     In  the  Paradise  of 
the  Book  of  Genesis,  it  reduces  to  a  practical  form 
that  noble  legend  of  the  Golden  Age,  which  was 
cherished  especially  in  prehistoric  Greece.    It  wisely 
teaches  us  to  look  to  misused  freewill  as  the  source 
of  all  the  sin,  and  mainly  of  the  accompanying 
misery,  which  still  overflow  the  world,  and  environ 
human  life  like  a  moral  deluge.     It  shows  ua  man 
in  his  childhood,  no  less  responsible  for  disobedi- 
ence to  simple  command,  than  man  in  his  manhood 
for  contravention  of  those  laws  of  essential  right 
and  wrong,  which  remain  now  and  forever  clothed 
with  the  majesty  of  divine  authority.     It  teaches 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE.  j.r 

us  how  sin  begets  sin ;   how  the  rebellion  of  the 
creature  against  the  Creator  was  at  once  followed 
by  the  rebellion  of  the  creature's  lower  appetites 
against  his  higher  mind  and  will.     It  impresses 
upon  us  that  sin  is  not  like  the  bird  lightly  flying 
past  us  in  an  atmosphere,  which  closes  on  it  as  it 
goes,  and  carries  no  trace  of  its  passage.     It  alters 
for  the  worse  the  very  being  of  the  man  that  acts 
it,  and  leaves  to  him  a  deteriorated  essence.    This 
he  in  turn,  by  the  inexorable  laws  of  his  constitu- 
tion, transmits  to  his  descendants ;  and  this  again 
in  them  exhibits,  variably,  yet  on  the  whole  with 
clear  and  even  glaring  demonstration,  the  evil  bias, 
which  it  has  received ;  and  which,  in  the  course  of 
nature,  it  retains  until  it  shall  be  happily  corrected 
and  renewed  by  those  remedial  means,  which  it  was 
the  office  of  the  Old  Testament  to  foreshadow,  and 
of  the  New  to  establish.     Everywhere,  then,  in  this 
narrative  of  the  Fall,  we  find  that  it  is  instinct  with 
the   highest  principles  of  the  moral  and  judicial 
order. 

For  the  present  I  pass  by  the  Flood  (Gen.  6-8), 

10  ' 


^ 


146 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


and  the  Dispersion  (Gen.  10),  which  may  be  most 
conveniently  considered  in  connection  with  what  is 
termed  profane  history;  and  I  touch  next  upon  the 
call  of  Abraham. 

This  call  imports  the  selection  of  a  peculiar  and 
separate  family,  which  was  afterwards  to  grow  into 
a  people.  They  were  to  be  in  a  special  degree  the 
subjects  of  God's  care,  the  guardians  of  his  Word, 
and  the  vehicles  of  his  promises.  Of  all  great  and 
distinctive  chapters  in  the  Biblical  history  of  the 
human  race  since  Paradise,  we  have  here  perhaps 
the  greatest  and  the  most  distinctive. 

The  selection  of  a  family  may  be  regarded  from 
many  points  of  view. 

When  sin  had  come  into  the  world,  it  developed 
itself  in  the  forms  of  infirmity  and  of  apostasy:  if 
it  be  allowable  to  describe  rudely  by  these  general 
terms  the  forms  of  character  which  distinguished 
the  race  of  Cain  from  the  race  of  Seth.  What  we 
see  of  the  former  is,  as  described  in  Genesis  4 :  16-24, 
its  rapid  advance,  and  apparently  its  marked  pre- 
cedence, in  arts  and  powers.     It  disappears  entirely 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE,  j.y 

with  the  story  of  the  Flood ;  and  we  are  left  to 
infer  that  it  may  have  had  a  principal  share  in  call- 
ing down  that  great  retribution  inflicted  upon 
revolt  from  God. 

After  the  Deluge,  in  the  time  of  Peleg,  fifth  from 
Noah,  selection  again  appears,  and  is  carried  down 
in  Genesis  1 1  to  Abraham,  from  whom  an  unbroken 
thread  runs  onward  into  the  period  when  the  cho- 
sen family  had  become  a  chosen  nation. 

This  choice  of  a  particular  family  or  race  maybe 
advantageously  contrasted  with  the  heathen  meth- 
od of  selection  or  preference,  by  the  deification 
of  individuals.  Of  the  first,  it  is  obvious  that  it 
reached  over  all  time;  that  in  this  way  it  tended 
to  assert  the  unity,  alike  of  the  divine  revelation 
and  of  the  Adamic  race;  and  that  it  was  never 
exclusive,^  as  it  from  the  first  (not  to  mention 
other  proofs)  invited  to  partake  of  its  benefits  the 

»  That  is  to  say.  never  according  to  the  Mosaic  law  as  contained  in 
the  Old  Testament.  After  the  return  from  Babylon,  the  ruling 
authorities  among  the  Jews  gave  a  greatly  enhanced  stringency  to 
the  law  of  intermarriage.  See  Graetz,  "  History  of  the  Jews " 
(1891),  Vol.  I.,  pp.  398-401. 


148 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


"stranger"  with  whom  it  had  come  into  contact. 
The  rival  method  of  deification  broke  communion 
rather  than  established  it,  and  was  based  on  no 
rational  principle  of  choice.     It  was  corrupt  as  well 
as  arbitrary;  for  the  deified  were  not  the  best.    But 
what  I  would  here  chiefly  press  is,  that  the  con- 
tinuous selection  of  a  family  was  a  bar  to  deifica- 
tion, because  deification  was  essentially  founded  on 
individualities;  instead  of  that  headship  in  series, 
the  members  of  which  presented  to  humanity,  as 
its  chiefs,  a  lineage.     Of  this  lineage  every  one  had 
its  destiny  as  it  were  locked  into  that  of  the  rest 
by  an  essential  parity.     This  kind  of  selection  did 
not  favor  idolatry,  like  the  other,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary,  built  up  a  wall  against  it;  for  it  was  not 
possible  effectively  to  deify  a   race.     And   so   it 
came   about,  as  we   have  seen,  that,  even   when 
idolatry  invaded  and  possessed  the  people,  it  never 
tainted  the  traditional  religion. 

This  selection  of  Abraham  and  his  progeny,  if 
we  speak  after  the  manner  of  men,  we  might  per- 
haps  describe  as  follows:    The  original  attempt  to 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE, 


149 


plant  a  species  upon  our  planet,  which  should  be 
endowed  with  the  faculty  of  free-will,  but  should 
always  direct  that  will  to  good,  had  been  frustrated 
through  sin;   and  the  tainted  progeny  had,  after  a 
trial  of  many  generations,  been  destroyed  by  the 
Deluge.     In  the  descendants  of  Noah,  man  was 
renewed  upon  a  far  larger  scale.   Different  branches 
of  the  race  (Gen.  10)  were  sent,  or  were  allowed  to 
go  forth,  and  to  people  different  portions  of  the 
earth,  each  carr>'ing  with  them  different  gifts,  and 
different  vocations   according  to  those  gifts;    the 
notes  of  which,  in  various   prominent   cases,  we 
cannot  fail  to  discern  written  large  upon  the  page 
of  history.     After  a  brief  period,  choice  was  made 
not  of  a  nation,  but  of  a  person,  namely,  Abraham, 
who  with  his  descendants  became  the  subject  of 
a  special   training.      He   and   his   posterity   lived, 
according  to  the  record  in  the  Bible,  not  like  other 
men    generally,  dependent  upon  the  exercise  of 
their  natural  faculties  alone,  but  with  the  advantage 
from  time  to  time,  and  with  the  continuing  respon- 
sibility, of  supernatural  command  and  visitation. 


148  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


"stranger"  with  whom  it  had  come  into  contact. 
The  rival  method  of  deification  broke  communion 
rather  than  estabh'shed  it,  and  was  based  on  no 
rational  principle  of  choice.     It  was  corrupt  as  well 
as  arbitrary;  for  the  deified  were  not  the  best.    But 
what  I  would  here  chiefly  press  is,  that  the  con- 
tinuous selection  of  a  family  was  a  bar  to  deifica- 
tion, because  deification  was  essentially  founded  on 
individualities ;  instead  of  that  headship  in  series, 
the  members  of  which  presented  to  humanity,  as 
its  chiefs,  a  lineage.     Of  this  lineage  ^v^ry  one  had 
its  destiny  as  it  were  locked  into  that  of  the  rest 
by  an  essential  parity.     This  kind  of  selection  did 
not  favor  idolatry,  like  the  other,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, built  up  a  wall  against  it;  for  it  was  not 
possible  effectively  to  deify  a   race.     And   so   it 
came   about,  as  we   have  seen,  that,  even   when 
idolatry  invaded  and  possessed  the  people,  it  never 
tainted  the  traditional  religion. 

This  selection  of  Abraham  and  his  progeny,  if 
we  speak  after  the  manner  of  men,  we  might  per- 
haps describe  as  follows:    The  original  attempt  to 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE, 


149 


plant  a  species  upon  our  planet,  which  should  be 
endowed  with  the  faculty  of  free-will,  but  should 
always  direct  that  will  to  good,  had  been  frustrated 
through  sin;   and  the  tainted  progeny  had,  after  a 
trial  of  many  generations,  been  destroyed  by  the 
Deluge.     In  the  descendants  of  Noah,  man  was 
renewed  upon  a  far  larger  scale.   Different  branches 
of  the  race  (Gen.  10)  were  sent,  or  were  allowed  to 
go  forth,  and  to  people  different  portions  of  the 
earth,  each  carrying  with  them  different  gifts,  and 
different  vocations   according  to  those  gifts;    the 
notes  of  which,  in  various   prominent   cases,  we 
cannot  fail  to  discern  written  large  upon  the  page 
of  history.     After  a  brief  period,  choice  was  made 
not  of  a  nation,  but  of  a  person,  namely,  Abraham, 
who  with  his  descendants  became  the  subject  of 
a  special  training.     He  and   his  posterity  lived, 
according  to  the  record  in  the  Bible,  not  like  other 
men    generally,  dependent  upon  the  exercise  of 
their  natural  faculties  alone,  but  with  the  advanta^re 

o 

from  time  to  time,  and  with  the  continuing  respon- 
sibility, of  supernatural  command  and  visitation. 


ISO  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 

But  this  remarkable  promotion  to  a  higher  form  of 
life  did  not  invest  them  with  any  arbitrary  or  selfish 
prerogative.     On  the  contrary,  as  the  legislation  of 
Moses  was  distinguished  from  other  ancient  codes 
by  its  liberal  and  likewise  elaborate  care  for  the 
stranger;  so  also,  from  the  very  outset,  and  before 
the  family  could  blossom  into  the  nation,  nay,  even 
in  the  very  person  of  Abraham,  the  ^it  imparted 
to  him  was  declared  to  be  given  for  the  behoof  of 
mankind  at  large.     "In  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall 
all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed  "  (Gen.  2% : 
14).     The   prerogative  of  the  Jew   was,  from   its 
very  inception,  bound  up  with  the  future  elevation 
of  the  Gentile. 

This  divine  election  doubtless  carried  with  it  the 

duty  and  the  means  of  reaching  a  higher  level  of 

moral  life  than  prevailed  among  the  surrounding 

Asiatic  nations.     These  nations,  sharing  with  the 

chosen  race  a  common  infirmity  and  deterioration 

of  nature,  differed  in  this,  that  they  at  once  carried 

the  reflection  of  their  own    sinfulness  into  their 

creed  respecting  the  unseen,  and   made  religion 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  O  UTLINE.  1 1 1 

itself  a  direct  instrument  of  corruption.    Yet  those, 
whom  we  call  the  patriarchs,  were  not  exempted 
from  the  general  degeneracy  of  morals  ;   and  even 
Abraham,  the  general  strain  of  whose  life  appears 
to  have  been  so  simple  and  devout,  on  going  down 
into  Egypt  to  escape  from  famine,  advisedly  exposed 
his  wife  to  the  risk  of  an  adulterous  connection 
with  the  king  of  the  country,  lest,  if  she  were  known 
to  be  his  wife,  his  personal  safety  should  be  com- 
promised.    On  the  moral  standing  of  the  nation 
sprung  from  Abraham,  as  compared  with  that  of 
contemporary  races,  there  will  be  more  to  say  here- 
after.    Meantime,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  sins 
and  follies  of  the  favored  people,  as  well  as  of  their 
priests  and  rulers,  are  told  in  the  narrative  frankly, 
and   without   attempting   to   excuse   them.     This 
frankness  of  narration  extends  also  to  the  calamities 
which  befell  the  Israelites ;  and,  as  an  evidence  of 
the  integrity  of  the  Hebrew  penmen,  it  suggests  a 
presumption  that  such  plain  speaking,  in  the  face 
of  national  and  ancestral  self-love,  is,  to  say  the  least, 
highly  in  accordance  with  the  belief  that  the  record 


1S2  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 

generally  was  framed  under  special  guidance  from 
aoove. 

The  selection  of  Abraham  and  his  posterity  was 
at  the  least  a  boon  to  some,  while  it  was  a  privation 
to  none.     In  its  immediate  effect,  it  withdrew  noth- 
ing from  the  nations  outside  the  Hebrew  pale      It 
bestowed,  indeed,  upon  the  parallel  line  of  Ishmael 
a  preferential  but  inferior  blessing.     This  dispensa- 
•on,  however,  it  is  no  part  of  the  present  purpose 
to  consider,  further  than  to  say  that  the  Moham- 
medan religion  maybe  regarded,  in  its  conflict  with 
the  .dolato^  which  it  first  confronted,  and  again  in 
the  present  day  among  the  tribes  of  Western  Africa 
as  having  been,  if  not  permanently  yet  for  a  time' 
the  communication  of  a  relative  good.     And  the 
Old  Testament  abounds  with  passages  which  dem- 
onstrate the  care,  and  even  the  special  care,  of  the 
Almighty  for  nations  other  than  the  Jews' 

But  the  object,  which  now  demands  our  attention 
•s  the  promise  of  a  blessing  in  and  by  the  seed  of 

boi':;  ;ir'''  "-'=  *"°  •=-  '-^''-  -  --.  -d  .^e .... 


:* 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  O  UTLINE,  j  .  3 

Abraham  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.     The  first- 
fruits  of  this  blessing  may  be  said  to  have  been 
perceived  in  the  translation  of  the  books  of  the 
Old  Testament   into   Greek   during  and  after  the 
third  century  before  the  Advent.     At  the  time  when 
the  language  of  the  Greeks  was  mounting  to  its 
supremacy,  in  the  East  through  the  conquests  of 
Alexander   the   Great,  and  in  the  West   through 
appreciation  by  the  Roman  and  Italian  genius,  in 
some  respects  allied  to  their  own,  the  Greek  rice 
itself  was  on  its  decline,  both  as  to  its  intellect  and 
as  to  its  practical  energy.     Such  a  decline  may, 
perhaps,  have  rendered  the  world  more  receptive 
of  the  influences,  which  the  substance  of  the  Hebrew 
books  was  calculated  to  exercise. 

There  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  that,  among  all  the 
forms  of  Hellenic  thought  exhibited  in  the  differ- 
ent schools  of  philosophy,  that  of  the  Stoics  was 
the  highest  in  respect  of  its  conception  of  the  Deity, 
of  its  emancipation  from  idolatry,  and  of  its  capacity 
of  moral  elevation.  In  the  hands  of  Seneca,  of 
Epictetus,   and   of  Marcus  Aurelius,   Stoic   ideas 


154 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


attained  so  high  a  level  as  to  have  been  used  by 
some  in  disparagement  of  the  exclusive  claim  of  the 
gospel   to   the   promulgation   of  truths    powerful 
enough  to  regenerate  the  world.     Without  assert- 
ing that  the  early  Stoics  derived  their  inspiration 
through  the  Greek  version,  called  the  Septuagint, 
from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  it  may  be  observed 
that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  philosophy  rose  to  its 
highest  level  through  the  Stoics  at  a  time  when 
the  Greek  mind  was  declining;   and  further,  that 
Stoicism  made  its  first  appearance,  and  began  its 
advance  at  the  epoch  when  those  Scriptures  had 
become  accessible.     Also  it  arose  and  flourished 
not  in  Greece  itself,  but  at  points  such  as  Citium, 
in  countries  such  as  Pontus,  in  schools  of  Jearninc. 
such  as  Alexandria,  which  were  seats  of  Jewish 
resort  and  influence.^     For  my  own  part  I  cannot 
but  incline  to  believe  that  both  the  translated  Old 

»  See"  Encyclopaedia  Britannica."  9th  ed.  Art.  "Stoics."'  It  states 
that  "  the  school  is  mainly  to  be  considered  as  the  first-fruits  of  that 
interaction  between  West  and  East,  which  followed  the  conquests  of 
Alexander.  Zeno  was  of  Phoenician  descent ;  Cyprus.  Silicia.  Syria, 
the  main   countries   of  its  origin.     Citium.   Alexandria.    Heraclea,' 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE, 


155 


Testament,  and  the  silently  diffused  ether,  so  to 
speak,  of  Christianity,  in  the  Roman  atmosphere, 
had  to  do  with  the  high  moral  elevation  of  the 
later  Stoicism. 

It  was  an  advance  of  a  different  order,  and  of  a 
wider  range  towards  the  fulfilment  of  the  Abra- 
hamic  promises,  when  the  Apostles,  charged  with 
the  commission  of  our  Lord,  went  forth  into  all 
the  world,  and  preached  the  gospel  to  every  creat- 
ure (Mark   16:  15).     Then,   indeed,  an  enginery 
was  set  at  work,  capable  of  coping  with  the  whole 
range  of  the  mischiefs  brought  into  the  world  by 
sin,  and  of  completely  redeeming  the  human  being 
from  its  effects,  and  consecrating  our  nature  to  duty 
and  to  God.     It  is  impossible  here  to  do  so  much 
as  even  to  skirt  this  vast  subject.     But  at  once 
these  three  things  may  be  said  as  to  the  develop- 
ment,  through  the  gospel,  of  the  Abrahamic  prom- 
ise.    First,  that  in  a  vast   aggregate   of  genuine 

Pontus.  were  prominent  among  the  places  furnishing  and  rearing  its 
teachers.  Most  of  the  Stoics  were  from  lands  of  Hellenistic  (as  distinct 
from  Hellenic)  civilization.  It  was  the  growth  of  the  Hellenized  East." 
Further,  see  Huidekoper's  "Judaism  at  Rome."  New  York.  1877. 


156 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


believers,  the   recovery  of  the   divine   image   has 
been  effectual,  and  the  mainspring  of  their  being 
has  been  set  right  before  their  quitting  the  world, 
by  the  dedication  of  the  will  to  God.     Secondly, 
that  the  social  results  of  the  change  have  been 
beneficial  and  immense,  in  the  restriction  of  wars, 
in  the  abolition  of  horrible  practices  publicly  sanc- 
tioned ;  in  the  recognition  of  essential  rights ;  in 
the  elevation  of  woman  (whose  case  most  and  best 
of  all  represents  the  case  of  right  as  against  force)  ; 
in  the  mitigation  of  selfish  and  cruel  laws;  in  the 
refinement  of  manners ;  in  the  utter  proscription  of 
all  extreme  forms  of  sin ;  and  in  the  public  acknowl- 
edgment of  standards  of  action  nearer  to  the  true. 
I  may  perhaps  add  in  the  abolition  of  slave-trading 
and   of  slavery,  and  in  the  law  of  nations,  and 
the  mitigating  rules  of  war.     Thirdly,  that  Chris- 
tendom is  at  this  moment  undeniably  the  prime 
and  central  power  of  the  world,  and  still  bears, 
written  upon  its  front,  the  mission  to  subdue  it. 
In  point  of  force  and  onward  impulsion,  it  stands 
without  a  rival,  while  every  other  widely  spread 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE, 


157 


religion  is  in  decline.  Critical,  indeed,  are  the 
movements  which  affect  it  from  within.  Vast  are 
the  deductions  which  on  every  side  are  to  be  made 
from  the  fulness  of  the  divine  promises,  when  we 
try  to  measure  their  results  in  the  world  of  facts. 
Indefinitely  slow,  and  hard  to  trace  in  detail,  as 
may  be,  like  a  glacier  in  descent,  the  march  of  the 
times,  the  Christianity  of  to-day  has,  in  relation  to 
the  world  non-Christian,  an  amount  of  ascendency 
such  as  it  has  never  before  possessed ;  and,  if  only 
it  can  sufficiently  retain  its  inward  consistency,  the 
sole  remaining  question  seems  to  be  as  to  the  time, 
the  circumstances,  and  the  rate  of  its  further,  per- 
haps of  its  final,  conquests. 

I  know  that  it  is  far  beyond  the  scope  of  a  few 
pages  such  as  these  to  make  good  in  detail  the 
claims  of  the  great  Abrahamic  promise.  Still,  I 
think  that  even  what  has  been  said  may  in  some 
measure  suffice  for  the  purpose  which  I  have  im- 
mediately in  view.  That  purpose  is  to  establish  in 
outline  the  strictly  exceptional  character  of  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  with  this  aim  to 


158 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


show  that  they  bear  upon  them  the  stamp  of  a 
comprehensiveness  which   concerns,  which   pene- 
trates, and  which  also  envelops  the  history  of  the 
world  as  a  whole.     The  promise,  given  to  Abraham 
nearly  two  thousand  years  before  the  Advent,  finds 
its  correlative  marks  in  the  general  train  of  subse- 
quent history.     These  marks  demonstrate  that  it 
was  given  by  a  divine  foreknowledge.     And  if  so, 
then  the  venerable  record  in  which  it  is  enshrined 
surely  seems  here,  as  it  did  in  the  Creation  Story, 
to  carry  the  seal  and  signature  of  a  divine  author- 
ship. 

Now  let  us  consider  from  another  point  of  view 
the  selection  of  the  Hebrew  race,  and  the  peculiar 
standing  of  the  Mosaic  legislation,  so  intimately 
allied  with  the  whole  of  its  singularly  checkered 
fortunes.     And,  in  order  to  effect  something  to- 
wards ascertaining  what  was  probably  the  cause 
determining  the  divine  selection   and  procedure, 
we  may  do  well  first  to  refer  to  some  aims  which 
might  at  first  sight  have  been  thought  probable. 
It   might   conceivably  have    been   the   design   to 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE,  15^ 

provide  a  complete  theology;   or  to  reward  with 
honor,   wealth,   and   power  a  peculiarly   virtuous 
people,  whose  moral  conduct  was  to  be  of  a  nature 
likely  to  make  them  an  edifying   and   attractive 
example  to   the   nations    of  the   earth.      Human 
speculation  might  have  been  forward  to  anticipate 
that  one  or  both  of  these  aims  might  have  been 
contemplated   by  a  plan   so    exceptional   as   the 
selection  and  isolation  of  one  particular  line  and 
people.     But  the  facts  appear  to  show  that  any 
such  anticipation  would  have  been  entirely  mis- 
taken. 

By  a  complete  theology,  I  mean  simply  such  a 
theology  as  would   confront  and  make  provision 
for  all  the  leading  facts  of  the  moral   situation. 
Among  these  a  prominent  place  had  from  the  date 
of  the  first  traditions  been  given  to  the  entrance  of 
sin  into  the  world,  and  to  the  promise  of  redemp- 
tion from  its  power.     Now  it  is  evident  that  there 
was  no  attempt,  in   the  legislation  of  the   Penta- 
teuch, at  this  theological    completeness.     Its  the- 
ology is  summed  up  in  clear  declarations  of  the 


i6o 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


being  of  God,  of  his  great  attributes,  and  of  duty 
and   love  to   him   and   to   our  neighbor.      With 
these  are  directly  associated,  in  the  Decalogue,  the 
main  items  of  man's  duty  to  other  men,  and,  both 
there  and  elsewhere,  a  doctrine  of  rewards  and 
punishments.    The  race  also  inherited  the  narra- 
tive of  what  is  termed  in  Christian  theology  the 
Fall  of  Man.    This,  however,  was  part  of  the  an- 
terior tradition ;  and,  though  implied  in  the  Mosaic 
system,  was  neither  directly  set  forth  in  its  terms, 
nor  made  a  common  subject  of  allusion  in  the  his- 
toric books,  however  it  may  have  been  involved  in 
the  sacrificial  system. 

But  these  rewards  and  punishments  are  of  a  tem- 
poral nature ;  and  the  Mosaic  legislation  is  thought 
to  give  no  indication  of  a  future  .state,  or  of  an 
Underworld.    This  is  the  more  remarkable,  because, 
not  to  mention  other  indications,  even  the  eariiest 
chapters  of  Genesis,  although  they  usually  contain 
but  the  merest  outline  of  history,  are  not  without 
such  indication  (Gen.  5  :    24).     Enoch,  at  the  end 
of  his  365  years,  "  was  not,  for  God  took  him." 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE.  15, 

These  remarkable  words  are  substituted  for  the 
formula  given  in  the  cases  of  the  other  patriarchs 
whose   record   closes   with   the  phrase,  "and   he' 
d.ed  •'  (Gen.  5  :  5,  and  passim).     Here  there  seems 
to  be  a  clear  manifestation  of  the  state  into  which 
Enoch  is  declared  to  have  entered,  without  passing, 
through  the  gate  of  death.     It  is  indeed  obvious 
to  remark  that,  under  the  Mosaic  system,  lone,  life 
was  the  reward  of  virtue,  and  that  unless  a  future 
l.fe  was  believed  in,  the  translation  of  Enoch  would 
have  been  the  record  of  a  punishment  inflicted  on 
him  for  his  superior  goodness. 

Again,  we  now  know,  from  the  Egyptian  Book 
of  the  Dead  and  otherwise,  that  the  religious  sys- 
tem of  that  country  not  only  included,  but  was 
greatly  based  upon,  the  conception  of  a  future  life 
It  seems  absolutely  impossible  that  the  Israelites 
even  had  they  not  been  aware  of  it  already,  could 
have  dwelt  for  many  generations  in  the  land  of 
Egypt  without  coming  to  know  of  it.     Our  Lord 
himself  affirms    that   they   knew   it   in   his    time 
(Matt.  22:32;   Mark    12:27).    And  we  have  it 

II 


1 62 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  0%^  THE 


presented  to  us  in  the  Psalms  (for  example,  Psalms 
i6:  lo;  49:  15),  which  exhibit  the  interior  and 
spiritual  life  of  chosen  souls.  There  are  other 
indications  to  the  same  effect.  I  have  stated  the 
instances  of  belief  in  a  future  state  among  the 
early  Hebrews  somewhat  more  largely  in  an  article 
published  in  the  Nineteenth  Centur>'  for  October, 
1 89 1.  But  the  argument  is  capable  of  still  wider 
development. 

It  has,  perhaps,  been  too  much  the  practice  to 
assume  that  the  Mosaic  law  is  to  be  regarded  as 
an  enlargement  of  the  patriarchal  religion.  With- 
out doubt  it  is  at  least  a  very  large  and  important 
supplement  to  that  religion.  But  a  supplement 
differs  from  an  enlarged  and  reconstructed  edition  : 
it  is  less,  as  well  as  more.  It  need  not,  and  indeed 
it  hardly  can,  contain  everything  contained  in  that 
to  which  it  is  a  supplement.  Here  is  a  great  and 
vital  particular,  in  which  the  Mosaic  law  cannot  be 
said  even  to  have  republished  the  patriarchal  reli- 
gion; and  which  both  preceded  and  survived  the 
law,  yet  did  not  find  a  place  in  it.     Accordingly, 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE.  163 

among  the  Jews  of  the  Advent,  the  school  which 
most  rigidly  adhered  to  the  letter  of  the  law, 
namely,  that  of  the  Sadducees  (Acts  23  :  8).  denied 
the  future  state,  and  held  "  that  there  is  no  resur- 
rection, neither  angel  nor  spirit." 

We  are  not,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  Israel  was 
without  the  hope  of  a  future  life,  which  St.  Peter 
on  the  Day  of  Pentecost  himself  demonstrated  out 
of  the  sixteenth  Psalm  (Acts  2:25);  but  only  to 
perceive  that  the  Mosaic  legislation  was  limited  to 
its  proper  purpose;  that,  namely,  of  setting  apart  a 
nation  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  providing  it 
with  peculiar  means  and  guarantees  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  its  mission  as  a  nation.    It  erected  a  walled 
precinct,  within  which  the  ancient   belief  of  the 
fathers  was  to  find  shelter  and  to  thrive,  while  it 
was  wofully  dwindling  and  perishing  among  all  the 
kindred  nations  of  the  world.     It  supplied  an  im- 
pregnable home  for  personal  religion.     But  per- 
sonal  religion,   taken    by  itself,   is   conspicuously 
weak  in  the  means  of  transmission  from  a<re  to  ao-e 
The  sons  of  Eli  were  wicked  persons,  and  the  evil 


164 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


IVIanasseh  at  once  succeeds  the  pious   Hezekiah. 
It  is  not  without  the  aid  of  fixed  and  solid  institu- 
tions, which  take  hold  upon  masses  of  men  collec- 
tively, and  unite  them  in  a  far-reaching  chain,  that 
the  sacred  fire  is  kept  alive  among  us.     Hence  our 
Lord  did  not  merely  teach  his  holy  precepts,  and 
fulfil   his   divine   career   in   his    own   person,   but 
founded  his  Church  on  earth,  to  carry  his  work 
onwards  even  to  the  day  of  doom.     And  hence, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Most  High,  Moses  was 
commissioned  to  establish  a  system  which,  without 
being  in  itself  complete,  provided  for  the  double 
purpose,  first,  of  building  up  a  fortress  (so  to  call 
it)  within  whose  wall  true  spiritual  religion  might 
in  singular  fulness  flourish  and  abound;  and,  sec- 
ondly, of  establishing  a  firmly  knit  national  system 
of  doctrine  and  worship,  intended   to  secure  the 
permanent  purity  of  belief  in  the  one  self-existent 
God,  and  the  continuing  practice  of  a  ritual  which 
set  forth  in  act  the  existence  of  sin,  and  made  intel- 
ligible and  familiar  to  the  people  at  large  some 
need  of  deliverance  from  it  by  reconciliation.    And 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE,  165 

so,  through  the  long  ages  from  the  Exodus  to  the 
Advent,  there  lived  on  the  two  systems  together, 
distinct  but  accordant.     The  one  was  the  religion 
of  interior  devotion,  powerfully  upheld  and  stimu- 
lated, as  occasion  offered,  by  the  Prophets,  and  con- 
tinually  exercised   and    developed   in   the  public 
ritual  by  the  Psalms.     The  other  was  the  relio-ion 
of  exterior  worship.     This  ritual  was  full  of  sio-- 
nificance.     It  had  a  command  over  the  entire  peo- 
ple.    It  was  incorporated  in  public  laws  and  insti- 
tutions, and  was  associated  at  every  point  with  the 
national  life.     And  these  outer  means  so  operated 
as  to  exempt  the  higher  and  interior  treasure  from 
the  risks  inherent  in  dependence   on   short-lived 
individual  fervor,  and  provided  a  secure  vehicle  for 
its  transmission  from  age  to  age. 

We  have  in  the  institution  of  the  prophetic 
schools  the  setting  forth  of  a  profound  lesson, 
which  reminds  us  that  the  Mosaic  system  was  alike 
in  itself  necessary,  and  of  itself  insufficient. 

From  another,  and  possibly  even  more  com- 
manding, point  of  view,  we  perceive  the  insufficiency 


1 66  OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


of  Mosaism  to  fill  up  worthily  the  outlines  of  the 
divine  dispensations.     Sin,  in  the  form  of  disobe- 
dience  to  divine  command,  had  entered  into   the 
world,  and  had  utterly  marred  the  fair  order  which, 
at  the  outset,  the  Almigrhty  had  noted  in  his  Crea-' 
tion.     The  mischief  was  not  left  to  stand  alone; 
and  the  promise  of  a  Redeemer  from  it  was  imme-' 
diately   bestowed.     Thus  far,   the  Mosaic  system 
helps  us;    yet,  in  helping  us,  it  surely  prompts  us 
to  look  beyond  itself     By  its  system  of  sacrifice,  it 
threw  into  distinct  relief  the  idea  that  offense  had 
been  committed,  and  that  our  standing  was  not 
upright  before  God.     Now  with  this  were  associ- 
ated in  Genesis  the  further  ideas  that  from  this 
offense  there  would  be  a  way  of  reconciliation  and 
recovery,  and  that  this  way  would  be  found  in  a 
member  of  the  human  race,  a  portion  of  the  seed 
of  the  woman.     On  these  further  ideas  Mosaism 
so  far  threw  light,  that  it  pointed  through  sacrifice 
to  pardon;  but  it  added  nothing  of  force  or  clear-  ' 
ness  to   the  original  promise  that    this    recovery 
should  be  wrought  out  in  and  through  a  Redeemer 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE.  167 

having  the   form  and   the  nature  of  man.     This 
prophecy  of  the  Incarnation,  though  a  vital  portion 
of  the  ancient  tradition  of  the  patriarchs,  did  not 
receive  any  supplement  or  new  enforcement  from 
the  construction  of  the  Hebrew  laws  and  institu- 
tions.    It  remained,  and  it  propagated  itself,  mainly 
in  the  Psalms  and  in  the  Prophets,  while  its  root 
was  pre-Mosaic.     Some  rays  of  the  light  of  that 
promise  may  perhaps  be  traced,  outside  the  Hebrew 
precinct,  in   particular  traditions   of  the   heathen 
world.     There  may  be  vestiges  of  it,  for  example, 
in  that  close  vital  association  between  Deity  and 
humanity,  which  marked  the  Greek  or  Olympian 
religion;  but  which,  as  the  fundamental  conception 
of  sin  more  and  more  faded  away,  lost  by  degrees 
all   its   moral   force.     Mosaism   did  essential  and 
infinite  service  in  deeply  sculpturing  (so  to  speak) 
the  idea  of  sin  in  the  human  consciousness;  but  it 
was  not  favorable  to  that  theanthropy,  or  union  of 
the  divine  and  human,  of  which  the  human  side 
had  been  so  strongly  foreshadowed  in  the  original 
charter  of  redemption.     Perhaps  by  the  rigid  pro- 


1 63 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


hibition  of  images,  which  was  so  necessary  for  its 
direct  purpose,  it  rather  tended  to  widen  the  dis- 
tance at  which  man  stood  as  a  being  worshipping 
his  Maker.     Already  idolatry,  such  as  prevailed  in 
the  East,  was  associated  with  the  human  form,  and 
the  necessity  of  shutting  out   that  idolatry  may 
have  carried  with  it.  in  this  respect,  a  certain  reli- 
gious incompleteness  as  a  consequence,  which  be- 
comes manifest  to  us  when  we  stand,  as  Christians, 
in  the  full  light  of  the  Incarnation. 

I  now  come  to  the  second  supposition;  and  I 
ask  whether  the  selection  of  the  Hebrew  race  was 
grounded  on  their  moral  superiority.     Within  nar- 
row limits,  the  answer  would  be  affirmative.    They 
were  appointed  to  purge  and  to  possess  the  land  of 
Canaan  on  account  of  the  terrible  and  loathsome 
iniquities  of  its  inhabitants.     The  nations,  whom 
they  were  to  subdue,  had  reached  that  latest  stage 
of  sensual  iniquity,  which  respects  neither  God  nor 
nature.     The  sensual  appetite  within  man,  which 
rebelled  against  him  when  he  had  rebelled  against 
God,  had  in  Canaan  enthroned  its  lawlessne^'ss  as 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE.  i6g 

law,  and  its  bestial  indulgences  had  become  reco<^- 
nized,  normal,  nay  more,  even  religious  if  not  ob- 
ligatory. And  there  are  those  in  the  present  day 
who,  admitting  the  facts,  find  in  them  a  subject  of 
pleasurable  contemplation,  as  if  they  simply  exhib- 
ited an  innocent  and  free  exercise  of  natural  pro- 
pensities. The  propensities  were  due  indeed  to 
nature;  but  only  to  nature  in  a  condition  of  dis- 
order and  disease. 

The  vicious  practices  of  these  nations,  indicated 
rather  than  described  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 
veiled,  apparently  for  decency's  sake,  in  the  trans- 
lations, are  too  sadly  attested  by  the  character  of 
the  remains,  which,  in  later  times,  archaeology  has 
recovered  from  their  hiding-places.     They  are  also 
attested  by  the  poems  of  Homer.     In  these  poems, 
the  Phoenicians  represent  Syrian  religion,  and  we 
find  the  goddess  Aphrodite,  whose  debased  worship 
it  seems  plain  that  they  were  gradually  importing 
into  Greece,  to  have  stood  for  a  symbol  of  lawless 
lust  in  combination  with  the  highest  power  of  ani- 
mal attraction.    This  is  "Ashtoreth,  the  goddess  of 


170 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


the  Zidonians"  (i  Kings  11:5,  33),  to  whom  both 
Solomon  and  the  people  bowed  down  themselves. 

I  find  it  much  more  difficult  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion, whether  the  Hebrew  race  were  planted  in  the 
land  of  promise,  which  flowed  with  milk  and  honey, 
by  reason  of,  or  in  connection  with,  their  moral 
superiority  to  the  nations  of  the  world  taken  uni- 
versally. It  is,  down  to  the  present  day,  extremely 
difficult  to  make  any  trustworthy  estimate  of  the 
comparative  moral  standing  even  of  any  two  con- 
temporary peoples.  It  may  be  admitted  that  the 
form  of  human  nature  has  with  the  modern  condi- 
tions grown  far  more  manifold  and  complex.  But, 
on  the  other  side,  in  answering  the  question  I  have 
just  put,  we  have  the  difficulty  not  only  of  remote- 
ness in  time,  but,  as  to  most  cases,  of  extreme  scan- 
tiness of  information. 

I  shall  assume  that  the  mass  of  the  children  of 
Israel  at  large  were  trained  mainly  by  Mosaism, 
and  litde  in  comparison  by  the  more  highly  spirit- 
ual tradition  conserved  and  enshrined  within  it. 
Speaking  of  the  nation  generally,  we  may  consider 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE. 


171 


that  the  Old  Testament  gives  us  more  than  a 
sketch,  if  less  than  a  picture,  of  their  social  and 
moral  state.  I  am  aware  of  only  one  other  race 
with  respect  to  which  we  have  any  account  possess- 
ing a  tolerable  fulness.  That  is  the  race  of  the 
Achaian  Greeks,  painted  with  marvellous  truthful- 
ness, and  not  less  remarkable  completeness,  by 
Homer.  The  poet  describes  the  manners  of  one 
generation ;  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  say 
from  Abraham  to  the  Captivity,  range  over  many. 
Still,  numerous  as  these  are,  they  present  a  con- 
siderable unity  of  color.  I  carefully  reserve  the 
case  of  that  inner  and  elect  circle  among  the  He- 
brews, to  whom  we  owe  the  possession  down  to 
this  day  of  inestimable  spiritual  treasures.  But 
comparing,  as  well  as  I  am  able,  ordinary  or  aver- 
age life,  among  the  ordinary  Hebrews  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  ordinary  Greeks  of  Homer  (whom  I 
take  to  have  lived  long  after  Moses,  but  consider- 
ably before  the  age  of  David),  on  the  other,  I  can- 

in 

not  discern  that  these  last  were  in  a  moral  sense 
inferior. 


172 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


I  am  sensible,  however,  that  in  such  a  proposi- 
tion as  has  just  been  uttered  there  must  be,  to 
the  general  reader,  some  appearance  of  paradox; 
and  likewise  that  such  an  appearance  will  not 
be  effectually  removed  by  reference  to  the  Scrip- 
tural complaints  of  the  stiff  neck,  or  the  hard 
heart,  of  the  Israelites.  I  must  therefore  make 
further  endeavors  to  get  at  the  truth  of  the  case 
before  us. 

I  do  not  feel  that  even  the  patriarchal  history  is 
designed  to  convey  to  us  the  idea  that  the  privi- 
leged race  stood  uniformly  at  a  great  moral  eleva- 
tion, as  compared  with  other  and  ordinary  portions 
of  mankind. 

The  subject  is  a  painful  one,  and  I  shall  not  dilate 
upon  its  details.  But  it  seems  undeniable  that,  in 
the  history  of  the  selected  line,  we  find  from  time 
to  time  the  development  of  wickedness  in  its  ex- 
treme forms.  Such  are  the  sin  of  Onan  (Gen.  38  : 
8,  9),  the  incest  of  the  daughters  of  Lot  (Gen.  19: 
32),  and  the  brutal  insensibifity  of  Ham,  the  son  of 
Noah,  to  the  claims  of  natural  decency  (Gen.  9 :  22), 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE. 


173 


Nor  are  the  women  exempt,  as  we  learn  from  the 
incest  devised  and  effected  by  Tamar  (Gen.  38 : 6-30). 
And  the  wife  of  Lot  cast  a  yearning  look  on  the  hell 
of  Sodom  (Gen.  19  :  26).  The  first  three  cases,  and 
the  last,  are  not  in  the  Hne  of  the  ultimate  succes- 
sion ;  but  Pharez,  the  son  of  Tamar,  is  the  recorded 
ancestor  of  King  David  and  his  descendants  (Matt. 
I  :  3-5).  Now,  among  the  Achaian  Greeks  of 
Homer  we  find  a  sensitive  delicacy,  altogether 
peculiar,  as  to  all  exposure  of  the  person.  Nor  is 
there  anywhere  in  the  Poems,  among  the  Achaian 
Greeks,  any  extreme  form  of  sensual  indulgence. 
Among  the  Hellenized  Boeotian  immigrants  from 
the  East,  that  is  from  the  Syrian  coast,  there  oc- 
curred at  an  early  stage  of  their  history  in  the 
Peninsula,  a  case  of  incest ;  ^  but  this  was  always 
regarded  by  the  indigenous  tradition  as  involun- 
tary, and,  what  is  more,  a  curse  clave  on  account 
of  it  to  the  race  of  Kadmos,  and  brought  about 
its  early  extinction. 

While  incest  is  thus  regarded  as  a  monstrous- 

*  Od.,  XI.  271-274. 


174 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


perversion  of  nature  among  the  Greeks,  there  are 
in  the  Homeric  poems,  as  I  think,  sufficiently  clear 
indications  that  it  was  practiced  without  shame 
among  the  Phoenicians, »  the  coast  neighbors  of 
Syria,  and  partners  with  that  country  in  manners, 
if  not  also  probably  in  race. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  two  others  among  the  great 
moral  constituents  of  human  character,  and  com- 
pare the  cases  in  point  of  humanity  as  against 
cruelty,  and  of  truth  as  against  fraud. 

Let  us  take  the  two  instances,  first  of  the  deceit 
practiced  by  Jacob  upon  his  brother  Esau  and  his 
father  Isaac;  secondly,  of  the  base  and  unnatural 
conduct  of  the  sons  of  Jacob  towards  their  brother 
Joseph.     As  there  is  nothing  recorded  in  favor  of 
the  Homeric  or  Achaian  Greeks  which  approaches 
in  moral  beauty  to^the  forgiveness  freely  accorded  by 
Joseph,  so  there  is  nothing  recorded  against  them 
which   so   wickedly  tramples   down   the  laws  of 
nature,  as  those  flagrant  iniquities  of  the  sons  of 
Jacob,  to  which   attention   has  just  been   called. 

*  Od.,  X.  7,  and  less  flagrantly,  VII.  64-68. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE. 


175 


The  conduct  of  the  suitors  of  Penelope  in  the 
Odyssey,  and  the  actions  of  Paris  (a  foreigner), 
supply  the  worst  exhibitions  of  human  nature 
which  come  before  us  in  the  Poems.  Both  there 
and  in  the  Old  Testament  retribution  follows  guilt, 
but  what  I  now  speak  of  is  the  depth  of  guilt,  not 
its  treatment.  There  is  nowhere  in  Homer  a  case, 
between  relatives,  of  deceit  like  that  of  Jacob,  or  of 
cruelty  like  that  of  his  sons. 

When  we  come  to  the  Palestinian  period,  it  would 
appear  that  the  Israelites  were  subjected  to  a  force 
and  diversity  of  temptations,  such  as  perhaps  no 
people  ever  had  to  encounter.     Successful  war  had 
stimulated    their    vindictive    passions.      Triumph 
everywhere  had  waited  on  their  arms.     They  were 
entitled  to  esteem  themselves  the  directly  chosen 
ministers  of  God.     They  were  likely  to  regard  the 
heathen,  among  whom  they  came,  with  hatred  and 
contempt.     They  passed   from  a  life,  wanderino- 
uncertain  and  ill  supplied,  to   settlement  and  to 
abundance.     The  temples  or  emblems  of  seductive 
lust  everywhere  met  their  eyes;  and  the  vile  ex- 


176 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


ample,  by  which  they  were  solicited  in  the  mass 
and  in  detail,  pretended  plausibly  to  hallow  itself  by 
close  association  with  religion.  There  is  scarcely 
an  evil  passion  that  finds  entrance  into  the  human 
breast  which  was  not  powerfully  stirred  by  the 
circumstances  of  the  Israelitish  conquest.  We  find 
in  the  sacred  text  indications  of  the  severity  of 
some  of  their  temptations.  Take,  for  instance, 
Deuteronomy  6  :  10-16;  and  again  in  31  :  20  it 
is  written, 

••  For  when  I  shall  have  brought  them  into  the  land  which 
I  sware  unto  their  fathers,  that  floweth  with  milk  and  honey 
and  they  shall  have  eaten  and  filled  themselves,  and  waxen 
fat ;  then  xviU  they  turn  unto  other  gods  and  serve  them, 
and  provoke  me,  and  break  my  covenant." 

The  general  indication  seems  to  be  first  the  per- 
petuation of  a  chosen  seed,  at  the  very  heart  of  the 
nation,  high  in  the  knowledge  of  interior  religion; 
secondly,  a  decided  ethical  superiority  of  the"  He- 
brew line  over  the  Asiatic  nations  in  their  neighbor- 
hood ;  as  indeed  it  was  from  Asia  that  the  extremes 
of  corruption  flowed  into  the  Greek  Peninsula  in  the 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE.  17, 

earliest  historic  times.  Yet  the  loveliest  picture  of 
womanhood  in  all  the  early  sacred  books  is  that 
of  Ruth ;  and  Ruth  was  of  the  children  of  Moab, 
who  was  the  incestuous  offspring  of  one  of  the 
daughters  of  Lot  (Gen.  19  :  36,  37). 

Humanity,  or  mercy,  is  certainly  not  the  strong 
point  of  the  Achaian  Greeks.     With  them  not  only 
no  sacredness,  but  little  value,  attached  to  human 
life;  and  the  loss  of  it  stirs  no  sympathy  unless  it 
be  associated   with   beauty,  valor,  patriotism,  or 
other  esteemed  characteristics.     Yet  here,  again, 
the  forms  of  evil  are  less  extreme.    We  do   not 
find,  even   in   the   stern,  relentless   vengeance   of 
Odysseus   on   his   enemies,  or   in  the  passionate, 
almost    frenzied,    wish    of   Achilles,   that    nature 
would  permit  what  it  forbade,  namely,  to  devour 
the  hated  foe  who  had  slain  his  bosom-friend,  a 
form   of   cruelty   and    brutality   so   savage  as   is 
recorded  in  the  case  of  the  Levite  with  his  wife 
and  concubine  at  Gibeah,  and  of  the  war  which 
followed  it  (Judg.  19-21). 

The  temptations  of  lust  were  even  more  formida- 

12 


178 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


ble  than  those  of  cruelty  and  revenge.     Accord- 
ing to  the  sacred  text,  this  danger  was  foreseen 
from  the  first;  and  the  very  eadiest  Mosaic  legis- 
lation  (Exod.   22  :    1 6),  after  that   of  the   Com- 
mandments,  begins  to  denounce  a  portion  of  the 
indescribable  practices  which  were  rife  among  the 
older  occupiers  of  the  promised  land.     It  was  sub- 
sequently carried  into  further  particulars,  and  we 
know  that,  down  the  whole  course  of  the  historic 
period  before  the  Captivity,  the  filthy  idolatry  not 
only  encircled  the  chosen  people,  but  at  times  so 
invaded  it,  as  to  reduce  to  a  remnant  among  the 
ten  tribes  the  untainted  portion  of  the  community, 
the  true  worshippers  of  God.     Even  pious  mon- 
archs   were   sometimes  afraid  to   destroy  its  con- 
stituted and,  in  a  perverse  sense,  consecrated  em- 
blems. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  must  not  view  the  case  of 
the  earliest  Greeks  in  the  spirit  of  optimism.  War 
and  its  devastations  were  with  them  habitual  and 
almost  normal ;  property  was  little  respected;  cun- 
ning, as  well  as  skill,  was  sometimes  held  in  honor. 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE,  j^^ 

Yet  it  remains  a  broad  and  indisputable  truth  that 
honor  and  truth,  as   well  as  valor,  were  prevail- 
ingly respected,  that  family  ties  were  very  sacred, 
that  the  law  of  nature  was  simply  and  profoundly 
revered,  and  that  the  extreme  forms  of  vice  and 
sin,  the  widest  and  most  hopeless  departures  from 
the  law  of  God,  are  nowhere  to  be  found  in  any  of 
their  forms. 

Enough  has  perhaps  been  said  to  show  that  we 
are  by  no  means  permitted  to  claim  as  a  thing 
demonstrable  a  great   moral    superiority  for  the 
Hebrew  line  generally  over  the  whole  of  the  his- 
torically known  contemporary  races.     This,  how- 
ever, leaves  ample  room  for  the  belief  that  there 
was  an  interior  circle,  known  to  us  by  its  fruits  in 
the  Psalter,  and  also  in  the  prophetic  books,  of  a 
morality  and  sanctity  altogether  superior  to  what 
was  to  be  found  elsewhere,  and  due  rather  to  the 
pre-Mosaic,  than  to  the  Mosaic,  religion  of  the  race. 
But  it  remains  to  answer  with  reverence  the  ques- 
tion.  Why,  if  not  for  a  distinctly  superior  morality, 
nor  as  a  full  religious  provision  for  the  whole  wants 


i8o 


OFFICE  AND  WORK  OF  THE 


of  man,  why  was  the  race  chosen,  as  a  race,  to 
receive  the  promises,  to  guard  the  oracles,  and 
eventually,  to  fulfil  the  hopes,  of  the  great  Redemp- 
tion? 

The  answer  may,  I  believe,  be  conveyed  in  mod- 
erate compass.    The  design  of  the  Almighty,  as 
we  everywhere  find,  was  to  prepare  the  human 
race,  by  a  varied  and  a  prolonged  education,  for 
the  arrival  of  the  greatest  among  the  epochs  of 
history.     The  immediate  purposes   of  the  Abra- 
hamic  selection  may  have  been  to  appoint,  for  the 
one  necessary  task   of  preserving    in  the  world 
the  fundamental  bases  of  religion,  a  race,  which 
possessed  qualifications  for  that  paramount   end 
decisively    surpassing    those    of  all   other   races. 
We  may  easily  indicate  two  of  these  fundamental 
bases.     The  first  was  the  belief  in  one  God.     The 
second  was  the  knowledge  that  mankind  at  large 
had  departed  from  his  laws;  without  which  knowl- 
edge how  should  they  welcome  a  Deliverer,  whose 
object    it  was  to  bring  them  back  ?     It  may  be 
stated  with  confidence  that  among  the  dominant 


OLD  TESTAMENT  IN  OUTLINE. 


I8l 


races  of  the  world  the  belief  in  one  God  was  speed- 
ily destroyed  by  polytheism,  and  the  idea  of  sin 
faded  gradually  but  utterly  away.  Is  it  audacious 
to  say  that  what  was  wanted  was  a  race  so  endowed 
with  the  qualities  of  masculine  tenacity  and  per- 
sistency, as  to  hold  over  in  safe  custody  these  all- 
important  truths  until  that  fulness  of  time,  when, 
by  and  with  them,  the  complete  design  of  the  Al- 
mighty would  be  revealed  to  the  world  ?  Superior 
fitness  for  the  performance  of  this  indispejisable 
but  very  special  function  may  not  have  implied  by 
necessary  consequence  a  universal  superiority  in 
moral  qualities.  A  long  experience  of  trials  beyond 
all  example  has  proved  since  the  Advent  that  the 
Jews,  in  this  one  essential  quality,  have  all  along 
surpassed  every  other  people  upon  earth.  A  mar- 
vellous and  glorious  experience  has  shown  how, 
among  their  ancestors  before  the  Advent,  were 
kept  alive  and  in  full  vigor  the  doctrine  of  belief 
in  one  God,  and  the  true  idea  of  sin.  These  our 
Lord,  when  he  came,  found  ready  to  his  hand,  as 
essential  pre-conditions  of  his  teaching.     And,  in 


1 82 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT, 


the  exhibition  of  this  great  and  unparalleled  result 
of  a  most  elaborate  and  peculiar  discipline,  we  may 
perhaps  recognize,  sufficiently  for  the  present  pur- 
pose, something  of  the  office  and  work  of  the  Old 
Testament. 


f 


IV. 


THE  PSALMS, 


I.— THEIR    HISTORIC    PLACE    IN    THE    DEVOTION 

OF   ALL   AGES. 

John  Bright  has  told  me  that  he  would  be  con- 
tent  to  stake  upon  the  Book  of  Psalms,  as  it  stands, 
the  great  question  whether  there  is  or  is  not  a 
divine  revelation.     It  was  not  to  him  conceivable 
how  a  work  so  widely  severed  from  all  the  known 
productions  of  antiquity,  and  standing  upon  a  level 
so  much  higher,  could  be  accounted  for  except  by 
a  special  and  extraordinary  aid  calculated  to  pro- 
duce special  and  extraordinary  results;   for  it  is 
reasonable,  nay  needful,  to  presume  a  due  corre- 
spondence between  the  cause  and  the  effect.     Nor 
does  this  opinion  appear  to  be  otherwise  than  just. 
If  Bright  did  not  possess  the  special  qualifications 

183 


184 


THE  PSALMS. 


of  the  scholar  or  the  critic,  he  was,  I  conceive,  a 
very  capable  judge  of  the  moral  and  religious  ele- 
ments in  any  case  that  had  been  brought  before 
him  by  his  personal  experience. 

It  was  in  truth  a  noble  distinction  of  the  Hebrew 
race  to  have  produced  persons  imbued  with  such 
qualities  and  gifts,  as  made  them  capable  of  com- 
posing the  Book  of  Psalms. 

Twice  in  his  Epistles  (Eph.  5  :  19;  Col.  3  :  16) 
does  St.  Paul  admonish  Christians  with  regard  to 
musical  services  as  a  fitting  vent  for  the  devout 
mind  and  heart.     In  both  cases  he  employs  the 
same  phraseology,  and  enjoins  the  use  of  "psalms 
and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,"  each  time  giving 
the  first  place  in  the  enumeration  to  Psalms.    I  find 
it  difficult  to  dismiss  the  idea  that  in  this  word  the 
use  of  the  Psalter  was  intended;  especially  as  there 
are  early  testimonies  to  the  eflTect  that  antiphonal 
singing  was  in  use  from  the  origin  of  the  Church.^ 
Upon  the  most  superficial  survey  of  the  Psalms 
in  their  general  aspect,  it  seems  difficult  or  impos- 

•  As  to  the  last-naraed  point,  see  Wordsworth  and  Alford,  in  loco. 


THE  PSALMS. 


185 


sible  to  regard  them  as  simply  owing  their  parent- 
age to  the  Mosaic  system.  Some,  indeed,  of  their 
features  may  well  be  referred  to  it;  especially  the 
strong  sense  of  national  unity  which  they  display, 
and  the  concentration  of  that  sense  upon  a  single 
centre,  the  city  of  Jerusalem  and  the  temple. 

It  may  also  be  noted  that  the  Mosaic  law  incul- 
cated in  its  utmost  breadth  the  principle  of  love  to 
God.    "Thou  Shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
might"  (Deut.  6  :  4,  5).     Yet  may  it  not  be  said, 
from  the  place  in  which  it  occurs,  that  this  is  rather 
exhortation  than  statute?    Further,  it  is  not  un- 
folded in  the  detail  of  the  legislative  Torah;  and, 
even  in  the  Decalogue,  service  is  enjoined  without 
the   mention  of  love.     The  early  books  do  not 
exhibit,  like  the  Psalter,  the  close,  inner  contact  of 
the  individual  soul  with  the  Deity;  and,  as  water 
does  not  rise  above  the  source  from  which  it  flows, 
it  is  hard  to  ascribe  to  them  alone  the  wonderful 
development  of  that  principle  which  pervades  the 
body  of  this   unparalleled  collection.    We  seem 


1 86 


THE  PSALMS. 


THE  PSALMS. 


187 


compelled  to  assume  for  them  some  loftier  foun- 
tain-head of  instruction.     This,  I  would  submit,  is 
in  part  supplied,  and  in  part  suggested,  by  the  Book 
of  Genesis.     I  say  suggested,  inasmuch  as  the  out- 
lines of  a  primeval  religion  drawn  in  that  book  are 
not  less  slight  than  they  are  significant.     So  slight, 
indeed,  that  I  have  long  been  unable  to  resist  the 
impression  that  there  were  at  the  outset  supple- 
mentary communications,  divine   in  their   origin, 
over  and   above   those  contained  in    Holy  Writ, 
and  perhaps  traceable,  here  and  there,  in  later  por- 
tions of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  the  Apocryphal 
Books.     Much,  however,  is  supplied,  if  something 
also  is  only  suggested :  inasmuch  as  the  story  of 
the  Fall  involves  in  full  the  idea  of  our  restoration 
in  character  as  well  as  condition,  which  is  nowhere 
enunciated  in  the  Law;  and  further,  inasmuch  as 
the  Book  of  Genesis  sets  forth,  at  least  down  to 
the  time  of  Abraham,  a  personal  intercourse,  habit- 
ual and  direct,  with  the  Deity,  and  one  pointing 
onwards  to  the  great  Redemption. 

In  a  preceding  essay  I  have  represented  that  the 


i 


Mosaic  law  was  not  the  promulgation  of  a  new  and 
complete  religion,  but  a  code  of  provisions  intended 
for  the  particular  purpose  (i)  of  building  up  a  wall 
of  effectual  separation  between  the  Jewish  com- 
munity, and  the  corruption  of  the  nations  whose 
land  they  were  to  conquer  and  to  possess ;  and  (2) 
of  preserving  in  vitality  and  freshness,  within  that 
precinct,  the  fundamental  conceptions  of  the  divine 
unity  and  righteousness,  and  of  the  duty  and  the 
sinfulness  of  man.     These   all-important  proposi- 
tions were  the  necessary  pre-conditions  of  any  plan 
for  the  restoration  of  peace  in  a  disordered  world. 
But  they  were,  nevertheless,  in  process  of  extirpa- 
tion from  the  general  and  public  religion  of  all 
those  Gentile  races,  whose  history  is  given  us  in 
Scripture,  or  in  the  classical  books  of  profane  anti- 
quity. 

Thus  the  Mosaic  system,  while  it  was  defensive 
against  the  surrounding  iniquity,  was  also  some- 
thing more,  and  something  higher.  That  system, 
both  institutional  and  doctrinal,  fenced  in,  as  it 
were,  a  clear  space,  a  free  and  secure  domain,  for 


1 88 


THE  PSALMS. 


THE  PSALMS, 


189 


the  fuller  development  of  a  religion,  inward  and 
personal,  devotional  and  spiritual,  the  materials  for 
which  it  could  hardly  have  supplied  by  presenting, 
as  it  did,  God  as  ruler  and  judge,  and  man  as  a 
ser\'ant  who  continually  either  sinned,  or  was  on 
the  brink  of  falling  into  sin. 

In  the  inner  sanctuary,  thus  provided  for  the 
most  capable  human  souls,  was  reared  the  strono" 
spiritual  life,  which  appears  to  have  developed  itself 
pre-eminently  in  the  depth,  richness,  tenderness, 
and  comprehensiveness  of  the  Psalms.  To  the 
work  they  have  here  accomplished,  there  is  no 
parallel  upon  earth.  For  the  present  I  put  aside 
all  details,  and  am  content  to  stand  upon  this  fact 
— that  a  compilation,  which  began  (at  the  latest) 
with  a  shepherd  of  Palestine,  three  thousand  years 
ago,  has  been  the  prime  and  paramount  manual 
of  devotion  from  that  day  to  this ;  first  for  the 
Hebrew  race,  both  in  its  isolation,  and  after  it  was 
brought,  by  the  translation  of  its  sacred  books,  into 
relations  with  the  Gentile  world ;  and  then  for 
all  the  Christian  races,  in  all  their  diversities  of 


character  and  circumstance.  Further,  that  there 
is  now,  if  possible,  less  chance  than  ever  of  the 
displacement  of  these  marvellous  compositions 
from  their  supremacy  in  the  worship  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  And  beyond  doubt  it  may  be  also 
said  that  their  function  has  not  been  one  of  ritual 
pomp  and  outward  power  either  mainly  or  alone. 
They  have  dwelt  in  the  Christian  heart,  and  at  the 
very  centre  of  that  heart;  and  wherever  the  pur- 
suits of  the  inner  life  have  been  most  largely 
conceived  and  cultivated,  there,  and  in  the  same 
proportion,  the  Psalms  have  towered  over  every 
other  vehicle  of  general  devotion.  We  have  a  con- 
spicuous illustration  of  their  office  in  the  fact  that 
of  two  hundred  and  forty-three  actual  citations 
from  the  Old  Testament  found  in  the  pages  of  the 
New,  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixteen  are 
from  the  single  Book  of  Psalms ;  and  that  a  similar 
proportion  holds  with  most  of  the  early  Fathers.^ 

1  Canon  Cook,  in  the  Speaker's  Bible,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  146.  There  is 
a  minor,  but  still  not  unmeaning,  indication  to  the  same  effect,  whioh 
it  would  be  unseemly  to  couple  with  that  given  in  the  text,  but  which 
I  venture  to  name  for  its  recency,  and  because  it  is  eminently  asso- 


I90 


THE  PSALMS. 


The  Bishop  of  Derry  has  published  the  result  of  a 
careful  examination  made  by  himself  It  is,  that 
reference  is  made  to  the  Psalms,  either  by  quota- 
tion or  otherwise,  in  no  fewer  than  two  hundred 
and  eighty-six  passages  of  the  New  Testament.^ 

We  have  thus  before  us  the  fact  that  the  Psalms, 
composed  for  the  public  worship  of  the  Hebrews 
from  two  to  three  thousand  years  ago,  constitute 
down  to  the  present  day  for  Christians  the  best  and 
highest  book  of  devotion.     A  noteworthy  fact  even 
on  the  surface  of  it;  more  noteworthy  still,  when 
we  go  below  the  surface  into  the  meaning.     The 
Hebrews   were   Semitic,  Christendom   is  (chiefly) 
Aryan;  the  Hebrews  were  local,  Christendom  is 
world-wide ;  the  Hebrews  were  often  tributary,  and 
finally  lost  their  liberties   and   place  among  the 
nations ;  Christianity  has  mounted  over  every  obsta- 

ciated  with  the  general  course  of  modern  life.  In  a  manual,  not  of 
hymns,  but  of  devotions  prepared  for  public  use  in  the  mixed  con- 
gregations on  board  a  great  line  of  packet  ships  from  Great  Britain 
to  North  America.  I  find  that,  out  of  254  pages,  137  are  occupied  by 
selections  from  the  Psalms ;  the  chief  part  of  the  remainder  being  a 
collection  of  hymns. 

1 "  The  Witness  of  the  Psalms."     Note  A,  p.  291. 


THE  PSALMS, 


191 


cle,  and  has  long  been  the  dominating  power  of  the 
world.  The  Hebrews  had  no  literature  outside 
their  religion,  nor  any  fine  art;  Christendom  has 
appropriated,  and  even  rivalled  both  the  literature 
and  the  art  of  the  greatest  among  the  ancients. 
This  strange  book  of  Hebrew  devotions  had  no 
attraction  outside  Hebrewism,  except  for  Chris- 
tians ;  and  Christians  have  as  yet  found  nothing  to 
gather,  in  the  same  kind,  from  any  of  the  other 
religions  in  the  world.  The  stamp  of  continuity 
and  identity  has  been  set  upon  one,  and  one  only, 
historic  series ;  one  and  one  only  thread  runs  down 
through  the  whole  succession  of  the  ages ;  and, 
among  many  witnesses  to  this  continuity,  the  Psalms 
are  probably  one  of  the  most  conspicuous.  This 
stamp  purports  to  be,  and  to  have  been  all  along, 
divine ;  and  the  unparalleled  evidence  of  results  all 
goes  to  show  that  it  is  not  a  forgery. 

The  wonderful  phenomenon  thus  presented  to  us 
can  hardly  be  said  to  admit  of  enhancement ;  and 
yet  it  is,  perhaps,  enhanced,  when  we  bear  in  mind 
that  the  long  period  of  this  perpetual  youth,  exhib- 


192 


THE  PSALMS. 


ited  by  the  Psalms,  has  been  one  broken  by  the 
promulgation  of  a  new  religion,  together  with  all 
the  changes  of  fact,  and  developments  of  principle, 
which  transformed  the  heathen  world. 

Moreover,  we  should  remember  that  the  shapings 
of  all  language  merely  human  are  essentially  short- 
lived, and  forms  of  speech  succeed  one  another  as 
wave  follows  upon  wave.  But  herein  seems  prob- 
ably to  lie  one  of  the  ways  in  which  the  divine 
revelation  asserts  itself  It  appears  to  have  the 
faculty  of  giving  to  things  mutable  the  privilege 
and  the  power  of  the  immutable,  and  to  endow 
innumerable  fashions  of  speech,  when  they  belong 
to  the  heart's  core  of  human  nature,  with  a  charter 
that  is  to  endure  throughout  all  time. 

I  submit,  then,  that  the  fact  of  so  wonderful  a 
power  as  was  thus  exercised  by  the  Psalms,  in  such 
diversities  of  time,  race,  and  circumstances,  is  not 
only  without  parallel,  but  is  removed  by  such  a 
breadth  of  space  from  all  other  facts  of  human 
experience  in  the  same  province,  as  to  constitute  in 
itself  a  strong  presumption  that  the  cause  also  is 


THE  PSALMS. 


193 


one  lying  beyond  the  range  of  ordinary  human 
action,  and  may  most  reasonably  be  set  down  as 
consisting  in  that  speciality  of  divine  suggestion  and 
guidance,  which  we  term  revelation. 


II. — THEIR   ANTIQUITY. 

The  antiquity  of  the  Book  of  Psalms,  like  that 
of  the  other  books  of  Scripture,  does  not  directly 
or  necessarily  involve  the  essence  of  the  case  con- 
cerning  them,  which  I  apprehend  is  more  dependent 
upon   their   character  and   their   results.     Yet   it 
counts,  for  importance,  in  the  next  order  of  consid- 
erations, since   the   form   and   substance  are  here 
more  intimately  allied  than  in  the  terms  used  for 
the  recital  of  events  in  a  historical  book. 

It  is  also  to  be  assumed  that  the  incessant  use  of 
the  Psalms  in  the  service  of  the  temple,  and  the 
comparatively  wide  knowledge  of  them  thus  con- 
veyed  to  the  people,  were  in  the  nature  of  special 
securities  for  their  faithful  and  exact  transmission. 

When  we  speak  ot  the  Psalms  of  David  we  use 

13 


194 


THE  PSALMS. 


a  popular  and  general  form  of  expression,  which 
names  the  whole  from  the  largest  or  most  weighty, 
and,  originally,  most  conspicuous,  among  the  parts. 
The  phrase  is  sufficiently  shown  not  to  be  absolute 
and  precise  by  the  beautiful  137th  Psalm,  which 
describes  the  condition  of  the  Hebrews  in  Babylon, 
five  centuries  after  the  death  of  the  minstrel  king. 
Seventy -three  Psalms^  in  all  are  ascribed  to  him. 
This  is  not  the  assumption  or  opinion  of  con- 
servative writers  only.  Bleek,  whose  work  was 
republished  and  (I  must  conceive  at  least  generally^ 
sanctioned)  in  1878  by  Wellhausen,  admits  it  to  be  a 
matter  of  the  highest  probability  that  no  inconsid- 
erable number  of  the  Psalms  are  due  to  his  author- 
ship.^ He  also,  with  others,  largely  accepts  the 
inscriptions  which  are  prefixed  to  them.  Accord- 
ing to  Canon  Cook,  a  judicious  and  able  writer,  it 

1  Cook's  Introduction,  p.  150. 
» It  has  been  erroneously  asserted  (Academy,  Jan.  31,  1891)  that 
Wellhausen  has  limited  his  responsibility  to  certain  passages  written 
by  him.     He  evidently  makes  no  such  limitation :  but  only  specifies 
his  authorship  of  those  passages. 

3  *•  Einleitung  in  das  alte  Testament."  .    .    .    Besorgt  vonJ.Well- 
hausen.     Sect.  aai.     Berlin,  1886. 


THE  PSALMS, 


195 


was  never  held  that  the  entire  Psalter  was  the  work 
of  the  king ;  and  he  says  that,  in  the  time  of  the 
Maccabees,  the  completion  of  the  Book  was  ascribed 
to  Nehemiah.     He  thinks  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  two  closing  books  (out  of  the  five  books 
composing  the  Psalter)  belong  to  the  period  of  or 
following  the  Exile.^     But  of  the  three  Psalms  most 
pointedly  referable  to  the  Messiah,  two  (22,  1 10) 
are  Davidic.     He  shows  how  the  conclusive  objec- 
tions to  the  theory  which  refers  the  Psalms  to  the 
Maccabean  age  are  sustained  by  various  advanced 
German  writers,  and  Bleek   holds  that  no  Psalm 
can  be  shown  to  be  later  than  Nehemiah.     Ewald, 
we  have  seen,  to  the  last  held  that  no  part  of  the 
Psalter  was  of  the  Maccabean  period.     Indeed,  as 
the  language  of  the  people  had  then  come  to  be 
Aramaic,  and  the  old  text   read  in   Hebrew  was 
explained  in  the  synagogues  by  interpretation,  it  is 
not  easy  to  see  how  new  Psalms  could  be  after- 
wards  composed  in  pure  Hebrew,  and    added  to 

» Cook's  Introduction,  p.  156.     The  books  are  Psalms  1-41,  42.72. 
73-89.  90-106,  107-150. 


196 


THE  PSALMS, 


the  collection.     The  Psalms  themselves  were  para- 
phrased  into  Chaldee  or  Aramaic  after  the  Captivity, 
in  order  that  the  people  might  understand  them! 
This  fact  of  itself  overthrows  the  modern  destruc- 
tive  supposition  that  the  Psalms  only  came  into 
existence  at  that  period.     But  the  master  idea  of 
the  whole  argument  is  not  so  much  that  such  and 
such  Psalms  were  produced  at  such  and  such  an 
era,  as  that  the  Book  at  large  is  the  product  of  that 
influence  which  stamps  it,  like  the  other  books  of 
Holy  Scripture,  as  embodying  a  Divine  revelation. 
On  this  point  of  antiquity,  it  is  more  than  enough 
if  a  large  portion  of  the  Psalms  are  ascribable  to 
King  David.    I  venture,  however,  to  offer  two  sug- 
gestions.     First,  the  Psalms  come  to  us  through'l 
channel  supplied  by  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  not  the 
kingdom  of  Israel.     If  they  had  been  largely  com- 
posed  after  the  severance  of  the  ten  tribes  from  the 
two,  would  they  not  have  presented  some  more 
definite  indication  of  that  severance?     Now,  the 
name  of  Israel  is  the  name  under  which  in  the 
Psalms  the  chosen  people  are  commonly  described. 


THE  PSALMS. 


197 


We  have  this  name  repeated  sixty-two  times.^    The 
name  of  Judah  was  likely,  it  may  be  supposed, 
after  the  schism,  to  become  the  prevailing  and  dis- 
tinctive name.    It  would  probably  so  continue  even 
after  the  captivity  and  dispersion  of  the  ten  tribes, 
at  any  rate  as  long  as  their  remnants  continued  to 
represent  a  corporate  existence  separate  from  that 
of  the  southern  kingdom.      Yet,  throughout  the 
Psalter,  we  never  find  the  name  of  Judah  mentioned 
in  this  paramount  sense.     Jerusalem  is  mentioned 
seventeen  times,  and  Sion  thirty-eight;    together 
fifty-five  times.    But  the  name  of  Judah  only  occurs 
ten  times,  and  never  with  this  pre-eminent  signifi- 
cance.    It  is  mentioned  either  together  with  Israel 
(Psa.  76  :  I ;  1 14  :  2),  or  in  conjunction  with  other 
tribes,  as  with  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  in  Psa.  60  :  7, 
and  108  :  8,  or  with  Sion;   but  always  locally  or 

JPsa.i4:7(twice);22:3,23;2S:22;4i;i3;5o:7;53:6(twice); 
59  :  S :  68  :  8,  26,  34,  35  ;  69  :  6 ;  71  :  22;  72  :  18 ;  73  :  i ;  76  :  i ; 

78:5.21.31.41.55,59.71;  80:  i;  81  :4.  8,  11,  13;  83:4;  89  :  18 ; 

98:3;  103:7;  105:10.23:  106:48;  114:1,2;  115:9,12;  118:2; 

121  :4;  122:4;  124:  i;  125:5;  128:6;  129:1;  130:7.8;  131:3; 

135  :  4.  12.  19;  136  ;  II,  14,  22;  147  :  2,  19;  148  ;  14;  149  ;  2. 


198 


THE  PSALMS. 


tribally.  Could  this  have  been  so,  if  the  Psalms 
had  mainly  been  composed  when  Judah  was  the 
only  acknowledged  name  for  the  elect  people,  and 
Israel  was  habitually  a  stranger,  often  an  enemy, 
always  the  symbol  of  a  rival  and  apparently,  from 
the  character  of  its  priesthood  and  otherwise  (i 
Kings  12:31;   13  :  33),  a  degraded  worship? 

Secondly:  the  one  great  deliverance  commemo- 
rated in  the  Psalms  (as  also,  I  understand,  in  the 
later  Jewish  Liturgies),  is  the  deliverance  from 
Egypt  See,  for  example.  Psalms  6Z,  72,  80,  8 1 ,  105, 
106,  1 14,  135,  136.  Could  this  have  been  the  case, 
if  the  Book  was  unknown  until  the  time  when,  be- 
tween the  people  and  their  earlier  past,  there  arose 
up  a  frightful  spectre  ?  I  refer  to  the  lacerating 
experience  of  the  Captivity  in  Babylon. 

And  yet,  surely,  there  were  incidents  attendant 
upon  that  Captivity,  which  might  have  carved  upon 
the  Jewish  mind  recollections  yet  deeper  in  some 
respects  than  those  of  Egypt.  In  that  country,  if 
their  treatment  had  been  cruel  and  degrading,  yet 
they  must  upon  the  whole  have  flourished,  inasmuch 


THE  PSALMS, 


199 


as  they  grew  there  from  a  family  into  a  people. 
But  the  Babylonish  Captivity  entailed,  firstly,  the 
loss  of  what  was  not  only  an  ancestral  home,  but  the 
local  seat  of  the  divine  promise  to  their  race;  sec- 
ondly, the  loss  of  the  worship  divinely  ordained, 
and  attached  to  the  temple  of  Jerusalem;  thirdly, 
the  loss  of  the  kingly  line,  and  of  the  visible  form 
of  that  prized  nationality,  in  and  by  which  they 
were  preferred  before  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Is   it   then  conceivable,  if  the  Psalms  in  general 
owed  their  origin   to   the  time  of  the   Captivity, 
that  the  composers  of  them  should,  in  numerous 
and  conspicuous  cases,  have  dwelt  so  long  and  so 
often  on  the  details  of  the  Egyptian  bondage,  and 
should  never  but  once  and  briefly  have  made  refer- 
ence, specific  indeed  but  narrow,  to  the  one  recent 
catastrophe,  choosing  rather  to  go  back  to  the  cen- 
turies dimmed,  in  comparison,  by  the  interval  of  a 
thousand  years  ? 

It  seems  more  than  possible  that  this  argument 
may  be  decisively  supported  by  that  portion  of  the 
Book  of  Jeremiah,  which  distinctly  prophesies,  not 


200 


THE  PSALMS. 


long  before  the  Captivity,  that  a  time  is  coming 
when  the  servitude  in  Egypt  shall  cease  to  be  the 
one  commanding  recollection  of  the  Hebrews,  and 
its  place  shall  be  taken  by  the  Exile  in  Babylon. 

"Therefore,  behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that 
it  shall  no  more  be  said.  The  Lord  liveth.  that  brought  up 
the  children  of  Israel  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ; 

"  But,  The  Lord  liveth.  that  brought  up  the  children  ot 
Israel  from  the  land  of  the  north,  and  from  all  the  lands 
whither  he  had  driven  them :  and  I  will  bring  them  again 
into  their  land  that  I  gave  unto  their  fathers"  Qer.  i6- 
U.  IS). 

The  arguments,  drawn  from  general  features  and 
from  historical  probability,  respecting  the  antiquity 
of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  are  in  some 
degree  common  to  the  Torah,  or  Books  of  Moses, 
and  the  Psalms.     The  Psalms  have,  however,  the 
benefit  of  the  admission  which  at  no  distant  period 
received  countenance  from  the  leader  of  the  nega- 
tive school  in  our  own  day,  that  a  considerable 
number  are  probably  from  the  pen  of  David.    And 
there  are  also  points  in  which  reasoning,  available 


THE  PSALMS.  joi 

to  show  the  antiquity  of  the  Torah,  has  even  an 
enhanced  force  for  the  Psalms. 

We  see,  for  example,  that  the  history  of  the 
Israelites,  from  the  conquest  of  Canaan  to  the  Cap- 
tivity, is   upon   the   whole  a  histoiy  of  decaying 
faith.    This  is  exhibited  in  the  original  demand  for 
the  change  to  a  monarchy  from  that  earlier  form 
of  government  by  Judges,  which  powerfully  sug- 
gested the  presence  and  providence  of  the  Almighty, 
by  leaving  unoccupied  the  place  upon  earth  most 
symbolical  of  him.     It  was  shown  by  the  increased 
wickedness  of  the  Kings,  and  by  the  enlarged  and 
developed  office  of  the  Prophets.     For  these  were 
like  an  army  of  reserve  in  support  of  the  divine 
dispensation,  which  takes  its  position  on  the  field 
of  battle  in  the  hour  of  need. 

It  is  also  observed  by  Sack,'  that  in  the  period 
succeeding  the  Exile  the  original  creative  force  of 
the  Hebrew  spirit  died  out,  and  that,  as  formalism 

•  "  Die  altjudische  Religion  in  ubergange  vom  Bibelthume  zum 
Talmudismus."  von  Israel  Sack.    Berlin.  .889.     Einleitung,  pp.  13 


202 


THE  PSALMS. 


advanced,  the  sectarian  lines  of  party  were  sharp- 
ened and  deepened.  In  both  these  tracts  of  his- 
tory, the  spirit  and  voice  of  the  Book  of  Psalms 
appear  to  throw  us  back  upon  antiquity,  and  even 
upon  a  distant  antiquity.  They  seem  to  be,  when 
taken  at  large,  the  product  as  of  a  school,  so  prob- 
ably of  an  age,  of  living,  energetic  faith.  And 
they  are  not  less  eminently  notable  for  the  harmony 
which  all  along  pervades  the  religious  community. 
"  Jerusalem  is  built  as  a  city  that  is  at  unity  in 
itself"  (Psa.  122  :  3). 


III. THEIR   CONTENTS. 

Let  us  now  look  for  a  moment  at  the  contents 
of  this  Book,  which  are  such  as  to  fasten  our 
wonder  upon  them,  and  to  leave  little  room  for  any 
surprise  that  they  should  have  established  for 
themselves,  in  collective  worship  and  in  personal 
devotion,  the  place  to  which  no  parallel  is  else- 
where to  be  found  in  the  experience  of  the  human 
race.    And,  on  the  other  hand  I  shall  not  fail  to 


THE  PSALMS. 


203 


notice  in  their  proper  place  the  objections  which 
some  have  urged  against  the  Book  of  Psalms. 

The  multiplication  of  divinities,  under  the  sys- 
tem which  we  term  polytheism,  had  tended  to  es- 
tablish everywhere  a  system  of  what  are  termed 
national  gods.  These  act  within  the  sphere  of  a 
particular  race  or  country;  they  are  open  to  the 
competition  of  other  deities,  when  through  migra- 
tion or  conquest  these  spheres  happen  to  overiap. 
They  do  not  claim  the  allegiance  of  other  races,  or 
show  care  or,  so  to  speak,  responsibility,  for  their 
welfare. 

I  do  not  indeed  deny,  but  should  be  forward  to 
assert,  that  while,  in  the  eariy  stages  of  historic 
antiquity,  this  nationalizing  process  seems  to  harden 
more  and  more  with  the  gradual  accretions  of 
legendary  tradition,  we  can  trace  among  the  my- 
thologies, in  various  degrees  of  faintness  or  clear- 
ness, the  older  idea  of  a  supreme  God ;  of  a  belief 
in  one  Ruler  of  the  universe,  anterior  and  superior 
to  these  multiform  powers.  We  find  in  many  cases 
disguised  resemblances  of  that  original  belief;  but 


204 


THE  PSALMS. 


it  is  most  commonly  with  such  dislocation  of  its 
elements  ;  with  such  exaggerations,  such  intrusion 
of  ideas  foreign  to  it,  as  often  to  defy  all  attempts, 
at  least  in  the  present  state  of  knowledge,  to  ascend 
the  channel  upwards  to  the  source.     The  schemes 
become  so  complex,  as  to  defy  any  rational  account 
of  the  original  deviation :  even  when  their  basis  is 
found  to  lie  in  the  several  powers  of  external  na- 
ture, which  were  not  known  to  be  connected  by 
any  common  tie,  but  which  received  the  names  of 
gods,  and  were  combined  into  religious  systems. 
These  popular  gods  became  realities  in  two  senses: 
first,  subjectively,  because  as  they  were  accepted  in 
the  minds  of  men,  the  associations  connected  with 
them  became  a  source  and  spring  of  human  action; 
secondly,  in  an  objective  sense,  because  the  images,' 
under  which  they  came  to  be  represented,  gave 
them  a  real  existence  at  least  in  the  material  and  in 
the  traditionary  sphere.      It  is.  therefore,   natural 
that  the  Psalms,  in  phrases  concerning  deity,  should 
not  be  confined  to  the  One  God,  but  should  say,  for 
example  that  among  the  gods  there  is  none  like 


THE  PSALMS. 


205 


unto  him,  or  should  exhort  the  worshippers  to  give 
thanks  unto  the  God  of  gods  (Psa.  86:  8;  136:  2. 
See  Exodus  15  :  11). 

Yet  no  reader  of  the  Psalms  can  fail  to  see  that 
they  are  strictly,  unconditionally,  and  exclusively 
monotheistic.     God   is    undoubtedly  the  God  of 
Israel,  and  the  worshippers  properly  describe  him 
in  the  terms  which  most  closely  correspond  with 
his  relation  to  themselves.     There  seems  to  be  a 
great  mixture  of  the  terms  of  Elohim  and  Jehovah, 
and  in  none  of  the  five  Books  is  the  use  of  the 
properly  Hebrew  name  exclusive.'     But,  without 
drawing  any  argument  from  this  intermixture,  the 
Psalms  make  it  plain,  in  a  multitude  of  places,  that 
the  God  whom  they  adore  is  from  everlasting,  and 
is  the  God,  not  of  Palestine  alone,  but  of  the  whole 
world:   "Sing  unto  God.  O  ye  kingdoms  of  the 
earth;  O  sing  praises  unto  the  Lord;  who  sitteth 
in  the  heavens  over  all  from  the  beginning  "  (Psa. 
68  =  32, 33)-  And  his  eye  and  care  are  over  all  men. 
"O  praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  heathen:  praise  him.  all 

•Cook's  Inu-oduction,  p.  149. 


206 


THE  PSALMS. 


THE  PSALMS, 


ye  nations.  For  his  merciful  kindness  is  ever  more 
and  more  towards  us ;  and  the  truth  of  the  Lord 
endureth  for  ever"  (Psa.  117). 

No  doubt  the  "Lord"  is  represented  as  having 
special  relations  with  and  special  care  for  Israel. 
But  these  are  relations  of  affection,  not  of  exclu- 
sion.    A  Psalm  declares  indeed— 

"He  shall  choose  out  an  heritage  for  us;  even  the  wor- 
ship of  Jacob,  whom  he  loved." 

But  the  very  same  Psalm  had  already  sounded  the 
trumpet  note — 

"O  clap  your  hands  together,  all  ye  people;  O  sing  unto 
God  with  the  voice  of  melody :  for  the  Lord  is  high,  and  to 
be  feared ;  he  is  the  great  king  upon  all  the  earth"  (Psa.  47 : 
4,  and  I,  2). 

Among  the  notes,  then,  of  the  supreme  position 
of  the  Psalms,  and  of  the  religion  to  which  they 
belonged,  we  find  this  idea  of  the  one  God,  who  is 
also  the  universal  God,  and  the  universal  Governor 
of  men,  and  who  thereby  stands  broadly  dis- 
tinguished  from  what  we  find  to  be  tlie  character 


207 


of  the  polytheistic  systems  and  of  their  heads ; 
namely,  divinity  restrained  by  limits  of  the  races  or 
countries  of  antiquity. 

But  the  form  of  the  Almighty,  thus  divested  of 
the  limitations  of  mere  nationality,  and  exhibited 
in  the  majesty  of  perfect  Oneness  and  Omnipotence, 
revealed  itself  through  the  Psalms   in  other  and 
more  tender  aspects.     His  care  for  the  poor  and  for 
the  stranger  might  be  learned  from  the  books  of  the 
law,  and  may  be  traced  in  other  religions  among 
the  remnants,  as  is  probable,  of  true  theism.     Still^ 
that  is  a  function  of  government  only,  though  of 
benevolent  government,  and  it  is  compatible  with 
the  idea  of  a  Deity  immeasurably  remote.     But  in 
the  Psalms  is  developed  with  singular  force  and 
beauty  the  idea  of  Omnipotence  in  the  attitude  of 
nearness  to  man:  and,  more  conspicuously  still,  of 
nearness  to  the  individual  man.     In  Heaven,  and  in 
the  Underworld,  and  at  the  extremities  of  earth, 
"even  there  also  shall  thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy 
right  hand  shall  hold  me"  (Psa.  139:  6-9). 

The  presence  thus  brought  near  is  not,  as  in 


Hj 


208 


T/IE  P^Aim. 


Exodus  (chap.  19:  12,  13,  21),  a  consuming,  but  a 
soothinor  and  sustaining  presence  (Psa.  23).     When 
thus  brought  near,  the  Almighty  is   invested  in 
relation  to  us  with  all  those  capacities  of  action 
and  of  sympathy,  which  fill  in  human  nature  the 
department  of  the  affections.     In  the  mouth  of  the 
objector,  this  is  termed  anthropomorphism.     I  do 
not  presume  to  say  that  there  is  not  in  it  some 
prefiguration  of  the   Messiah,  made   in   all  such 
things  like  as  we  are  made.     But  that  there  is  no 
deflection  from  the  loftiness  of  the  monotheistic 
idea  we  know  from  this,  that  the  same  people,  who 
gave  utterance  to  the  Psalms,  have  been  the  most 
rigid  and  lofty  in  their  definitions  of  the  Godhead. 
As  when  it  is  said  by  Maimonides,  in  the  best  and 
loftiest  strain  of  Judaism,  that  with  God  "there  is 
neither  folly  nor  wisdom,  like  the  wisdom  of  a  wise 
man;  neither  sleep  nor  waking;  neither  anger  nor 
laughter;  neither  joy  nor  sorrow;  neither  silence 
nor  speech,  like  the  speech  of  the  sons  of  men."  ^ 

^  Maimonides.  "  Yad  Hachazakah."     Transl.  Bernard  (Cambridge 
l«3a).  p.  39.     Declarations  not  less  remarkable  are  to  be  fouod  in  the 


T//E  PSALMS. 


209 


Yet  it  is  he  that  is  not  only  the  guardian  of  his 
people,  but  as  it  were  their  sentinel;  and  not  of  his 
people  only,  but  of  every  one  among  them,  as  truly 
and  as  much  as  of  the  whole.     In  truth,  the  two 
threads  of  national  and  of  personal  Providence  are 
so  intertwined  in  the  Psalms,  that  they  scarcely  can 
be  disentangled.     "  He  will  not  suffer  t/iy  foot  to  be 
moved,  and  he  that  keepeth  r/ice  will  not  sleep;" 
and  then  in  the  very  next  verse,  by  a  transition  not 
less  gentle  than  complete,  "  Behold,  he  that  keepeth 
Israel  shall  neither  slumber  nor  sleep."     There  is 
no  detail  too  minute  for  describing  the  closeness  of 
this  protection :    "  He  is  thy  defence  upon  thy  right 
hand;"    "The  Lord  shall  preserve  thy  going  out, 
and  thy  coming  in :  from  this  time  forth  for  ever- 
more "  (Psa.  1 2 1 :  3, 4,  5 ,  8).     But  no  mere  selection 
can  rightly  convey  a  picture  of  the  close  and  inti- 
mate care,  which  this  and  so  many  others  of  the 
Psalms  describe  in  setting  forth  the  attitude  of  the 
Almighty  towards  his  worshippers. 

More  Nebuchim,  or  "  Guide  of  the  Perplexed."     See  also  the  work  ot 
Dr.  Ginsburg  on  the  Kabbala,  pp.  87-89  (London:  Longmans,  1864). 

14 


2IO 


THE  PSALMS, 


THE  PSALMS, 


211 


I  will  not  quit  this  portion  of  the  subject  without 
quoting  a  remarkable  testimony  to  the  elevation  of 
the  Psalter  from  a  recent  critic  generally  negative, 
but  one  who  makes  his  affirmative  declarations  with 
an  exemplary  sincerity  and  fervor.  He  speaks  of 
the  Psalter  as  follows :  *'  It  is,  as  a  whole,  the  ex- 
pression and  fruit  of  the  principles  of  the  Jewish 
religion,  as  they  existed  in  the  minds  of  pious 
Israelites.  Its  one  great  theme  is  the  clinging  of 
the  human  spirit  to  God.  In  joy  and  sorrow,  in 
victory  and  defeat,  in  moods  of  saintliness  or  sin, 
the  spirit  of  the  poor  earthly  wayfarer  here  pours 
out  its  plaint  and  prayer  to  the  God  of  its  life.  .  .  . 
What  exultation  is  here,  for  high  days  of  victory 
and  joy!  What  touching  moans  of  penitence! 
What  child-like  cries  for  help !  What  entreaties 
from  the  soul  that  can  only  say,  *  out  of  the  depths 
I  have  cried  unto  thee!'  What  delightful  con- 
fidences between  the  trustful  spirit,  and  the  Shep- 
herd who  leadeth  by  the  green  pastures  and  the 
still  waters!"^ 

1  Seven  Lectures  by  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Hopps,  VII.,  p.  33. 


, 


I  must  not  altogether  pass   by  the  Messianic 
Psalms.     These  are  the  songs  which  show,  by  the 
adaptation  of  their   language  to  him   and  to  his 
office,  either  that  their  composers  had  a  prevision 
of  his  coming,  or  that  such  prevision  was  conveyed 
into  their  strain   by  the   higher   influence  which 
prompted  it.     It  is  not  necessary  here  to  debate 
the  number  of  these  Psalms.     Suffice  it  to  specify 
Psalms  2,  21,   22,  45,   ^2,   no.     And   it  is   suf- 
ficiently plain  that  the  principle  of  prophecy,  which 
is  involved  in  them,  whether  conscious  or  uncon- 
scious in  the  mind  of  the  composer,  is  the  same 
which  belongs  to  the  other  predictions  and  pre- 
figurations  in  the  books  of  the   Old  Testament. 
But  they  differ  from,  and  go  beyond,  the  rest  in 
this  important  particular.     The  primitive  religion 
descends  through    them,  as    it  were   by  an  inner 
conduit.     The  great  and  cardinal  facts  of  the  lapse 
of  man  from  righteousness,  and  of  the  need  and 
promise  of  a    Redeemer,  were   embodied   by  the 
Psalms  in   the   perpetual   public   worship   of  the 
Temple;  they  thus  became  part  of  the  open,  com- 


212 


THE  PSALMS, 


mon  inheritance  of  all;  and  were  systematically 
forced,  so  to  speak,  upon  the  attention  of  the 
people,  that  they  might  come  into  personal  and 
conscious  appropriation  of  this  most  precious  and 
absolutely  central  part  of  their  covenanted  privi- 
leges. Great  as  was  the  Torah,  the  Psalter,  in  this 
capital  respect,  was  greater  still. 

When  the  foot  of  the  Greek  first,  and  afterwards 
of  the  Roman,  trod  the  streets  of  Jerusalem;  when 
the  treasures  of  the  Hebrew  books  were  unlocked 
to  the  Gentile  world  through  the  Septuagint ;  then 
there  happened,  we  may  justly  assume,  one  of  two 
things.  There  was,  as  we  know  upon  strong 
heathen  testimony,  before  the  advent  of  our  Lord, 
a  universal  and  traditional  expectation  in  the  East 
that  a  great  power  was  to  arise  in  Judaea  and  to 
subdue  the  worid.  How  came  it  that  so  remark- 
able a  conception,  foreign  to  the  cultivated  commu- 
nities of  the  Greek  and  the  Italian  peninsulas,  and 
apparently  menacing  the  continuance  of  the  Roman 
dominion,  should  at  this  time  have  been  prevalent 
in  the  East  ?     The  East  had,  indeed,  through  a 


7'HE  PSALMS, 


213 


long  series  of  centuries,  supposed  itself  entitled  to 
the  mastery  of  the  worid :    hence  the  wild  expe- 
dition of  Darius  into  Scythia,  and    the  repeated 
conflicts  of  Persia  with    the    Greeks.     It  is  not 
strange  that  this  heritage  should  in  some  shape  or 
other  be  reclaimed,  for  ideas  of  this  kind  are  tena- 
cious of  life,  and  easy  of  revival.     But  what  is  at 
first  sight  most  strange  is  the  choice  of  the  spot 
from  which  deliverance  was  to  proceed.     It  was 
not  from  any  of  the  seats  of  ancient  power,  the 
fame  of  which  was  still  on  record;  but  from  among 
the  small,  isolated,  and  undistinguished  people  who 
inhabited   Palestine,  and  whose  brief  appearance 
on  the  stage  of  human  affairs  as  conquerors,  in  the 
time  of  King  David,  was  so  slight  in  extension 
•and  in  duration,  as  to  have  inscribed  no  mark  upon 
the  page  of  general  history.     It  had  passed  away 
without  visible  record,  as  might,  until  a  few  years 
back,  have  been  said  of  the  old  empire  of  the  Hit- 
tites.  The  Jews  were  also  a  people,  whose  manners 
and  institutions  repelled  rather  than  attracted  the 
sympathy  of  the  worid.    One  supposition,  explana- 


214 


THE  PSALMS. 


tory  of  this  remarkable  expectation,  might  be  that 
it  had  hved  on  from  prehistoric  times  in  feebleness 
and  obscurity,  but  had  come  to  the  front  when  the 
East  felt  the  hard  hand  of  power  pressing  on  it 
from  Rome,  and  welding  it  for  the  first  time  by 
a  permanent  system  into  uniformity  of  servitude 
or   inferiority,    from  which   it  panted  for  deliver- 
ance.    But  it  seems  more  probable  that  the  Jewish 
Scriptures,  which  had  for  two  centuries  become 
known  by  translation  into  Greek,  were  themselves 
the  fountain-head  of  this  most  remarkable  antici- 
pation ;  and  in  that  case  its  popular  promulgation 
would  seem  in  all  likelihood  to  have  been  due,  in 
an  eminent  degree,  to  the  Messianic  Psalms,  which 
were,  of  all  the  available  evidence,  the  part  most 
likely  to  be  prominent  in  the  eye  and  mind  of  the 
people. 

Such  being,  in  outline,  the  presentation  of  God 
to  man  in  the  Book  of  Psalms,  let  us  consider  in 
its  turn  the  manner  in  which  they  present  man  to 
God.  Now  this  may  be  set  forth  in  a  multitude  of 
particulars,  but   they   are  all    capable    of  being 


THE  PSALMS, 


215 


summed  into  one.  For  we  have  seen  that  the 
Psalms  are  a  book  of  spiritual  communion,  not 
only  between  God  and  man,  not  only  between  God 
and  his  Church,  or  especially  chosen  people,  but 
also,  and  even  pre-eminently,  between  God  and  the 
individual  man. 

As  it  is  the  fashion  of  the  day  to  assert  for  the 
sacred  books  of  other  religions  a  kind  of  parity 
with  the  Old  Testament,  I  ask  the  reader  to  spend 
a  few  moments  on  this  subject.  . 

No  doubt  there  are  points,  at  which  resemblance 
may  be  traced  between  the  Hebrew  devotions  and 
those  of  the  outer  world :  not  those  of  the  outer 
world  generally,  for  from  the  Greek  mind,  as  repre- 
sented by  the  Greek  literature,  devotion,  properly 
so  called,  has  disappeared ;  the  rise  of  intellect,  sad 
and  strange  as  this  may  sound,  was  the  fall  of  piety. 
But  let  it  be  granted  that  in  the  Vedas,  for  exam- 
ple, and  in  the  Babylonian  Hymns,  there  are  points 
of  contact  with  the  Psalms.     Do  those  points  of 
contact  run  along  the  whole  line  ?     Are  they  con- 
tinuous, or  are  they  isolated?    Is  it  coincidence, 


("x' 


2l6 


THE  PSALMS, 


or  is  it  a  sort  of  tangential  contact  only,  or  one 
which  reminds  us  of  the  definition  of  a  point  as 
that  which  has  position  but  not  magnitude  in 
space  ? 

May  not  those  hymns  be  described  as  belonging 
only  to  the  idea  of  dependence  upon  the  Deity ;  to 
the  power  and  grandeur  which  exist  on  one  side, 
the  misery,  want,  and  weakness  on  the  other  ?     This 
is  perhaps  what  is  called  the  religious  sentiment, 
the  religion  of  which  we  have  a  subjective  need, 
and  which  we  are  now  constantly  (and  doubtless  in 
good  faith)  assured  is  not  to  disappear  on  the  sub- 
mergence of  positive  religion  and  its  institutions. 
But  does  this  give  us  anything  near  a  true  concep- 
tion  of  the  Psalms  ?     They  are  based  upon  the  idea, 
not  of  dependence  only,  but  of  sympathy  and  com- 
munion.    Yes,  for  the  work  of  spiritual  discipline, 
the  human  soul  is  there  almost  lifted  upwards,  as 
St.  Paul  was,  into  the  third  heaven,  and  meets  the 
Creator  as  son  meets  father,  face  to  face.     It  is  not 
possible,  perhaps,  to  carry  this  idea  farther  than  it 
is  carried  in  the  Psalms.     It  is  certainly  not  woven 


THE  PSALMS. 


\ 


217 


into  a  closer  tissue  in  the  "  Imitatio  Christi,"  after 
fourteen  centuries  of  Christian  ideas  and  practices. 
We  approach  to  it  especially  in  the  Prophets;  as 
when,  through  Isaiah,  the  Almighty  invites  us  to 
a  pleading  (Isa.  i:   18),  "Come  now,  and  let  us 
reason  together."  ^    But  can  we,  even  in  idea,  press 
it  further,  or  lift  it  higher,  than  in  that  marvellous 
expostulation  of  the  forty-fourth  Psalm  ?     It  defies 
the  test  of  extract  or  quotation.     From  the  fifth 
verse  to  the  end  it  is  a  sustained  note  of  moving, 
sorrowing  appeal,  lifted  as  far  above  the  level  of 
any  merely  human  effort  known  to  us,  as  the  flight 
of  the  lark,  "hard  by  the  sun,"  is  lifted  above  the 
swallow,   when  it  foresees   the   storm  and  skims 
the  surface  of  the  ground.     Such,  as  set  forth  in 
the  Psalms,  are  the  inward  exercises  of  the  indi- 
vidual soul. 

Not  that  the  stamp  set  upon  the  Psalms  is 
uniform ;  it  is  highly  diversified.  Take  the  noble 
first  Psalm,  which  opens  the  Book.  It  sets  forth  in 
one  part  (verses  3  and  4)  with  a  tender  beauty,  in 

»See  further  {e.^.)  Ezek.  i8;  25,  29. 


i 


2l8 


THE  PSALMS. 


another  with   strong  and   stern   denunciation,  the 
positions  of  the  righteous  and  of  the  wicked  before 
God.     But  it  sets  them  forth,  as  it  were,  from  the 
outside.     So,  again,  many  of  the  Psalms,  deahng 
with  the  Israelites  as  a  whole,  have  for  their  theme 
national  deliverance  and  glory.     But  let  us  turn  to 
the  penitential  Psalms,  and  most  of  all  to  the  fifty- 
first,  in  which  King  David  ^  sounds  the  lowest  depths 
of  sorrow  and  shame  for  sin,  and  has  provided  for 
the  penitent  of  every  age  and  every  character  the 
auxiliary  medicine  that  his  case  required.    On  these 
Psalms  as  a  whole,  on  this  Psalm  in  particular,  and, 
again  on  the  thirty-eighth  Psalm,  most  of  all  in  its 
first  moiety,  let  us  fasten  our  attention  for  a  moment. 
Have  modern  learning  and  research  succeeded  in 
extracting  from  all  the  sacred   books  of  all  the 
ancient  religions  of  the  world  anything  like,  I  do 
not  say  a  parallel,  but  an  ever  so  remote  approach 
to  them  ?     The  great   discourse   of  our  Lord  to 
Nicodemus,  in  the  third  chapter  of  St.  John,  might 

iSome  critics  argue,  not  without  some  reason  on  their  side  that  the 
two  last  verses  are  an  Exilic  addition. 


THE  PSALMS. 


219 


find  in  these  compositions  a  basis  broad  enough  to 
sustain  the  whole  of  His  startling  doctrine,  "  except 
a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God"  (John  3:  3). 

Penitence  thus  lying  at  the  door  of  the  process 
by  which  man  is  appointed  to  ascend  to  holiness, 
this  golden  book  supplies,  beyond  all  others,  the 
types  and  aids  for  attaining  it  in  all  its  stages.     All 
that  special  class  of  virtues,  which  were  unknown 
to  the  civilized  world  at  the  time  when  the  Apostles 
preached  them,  had  been  here  set  forth  in  act  a 
thousand  years  before,  and  stored  up  for  use,  first 
within  the  narrow  circle  of  the  Jewish  worship,  and 
then  in  the  Church,  which  claims,  and  which  may 
yet  possess,  the   wide  world   for   its   inheritance. 
Another  standard  of  virtue  indeed,  and  in  itself  a 
glorious  one,  the  Greek  and  the  Roman  world  pos- 
sessed.    They  had  their  code  of  Justice,  Fortitude, 
Temperance,  and  Wisdom.     But  this  list  of  virtues 
contained  no  recognition  of  the  terrible  and  world- 
wide fact  of  sin,  and  opened  no  road  to  the  acqui- 
sition of  powers  capable  of  contending  against  it, 


220 


THE  PSALMS. 


and  of  casting  down  its  strongholds  to  the  ground. 
That  road  was  to  be  opened  by  the  Beatitudes  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  by  the  Faith,  Hope, 
and  Charity  of  St.  Paul.     Now,  is  there  one  of  those 
Beatitudes  which  has  not  been,  in  its  blossom  or  its 
germ,  anticipated  by  the  Psalms  ?     Take  the  sancti- 
fication  of  sorrow  in  verse  4:  so  the  Psalm  instructs 
us,  "Thy  loving  correction  shall  make  me  great" 
(Psa.  18:  35).     Take  the  blessing   of  the  meek 
(v.  5).     So  says  the  Psalmist:    "Lord,  I  am  not 
high-minded.     I  have  no  proud  looks.     I  refrain 
my  soul  and  keep  it  low.     My  soul  is  even  as  a 
weaned  child"  (Psa.  131 :  i,  3).     These  are  princi- 
pies,  not  only  which  the  ancient  philosophies  did  not 
contain,  but  which  they  would  have  repudiated  and 
contemned.     Take  again  that  blessing  of  satiety 
which  is  promised  to  "hunger  and   thirst"  after 
righteousness;  words  which  indicate  such  an  adult 
age,  such  a  fulness  of  growth  and  stature  in  the 
new  man  of  the  Christian  system,  that  what  was  at 
first  lesson  from  without  has  come  to  be  appetite 
from  within,  and  forms  part  of  the  untaught  spon- 


THE  PSALMS, 


221 


taneous  working  of  a  renewed  humanity.  But  this 
idea  is  fully  developed  in  the  Psalms  (42  :  i,  2): 
"Like  as  the  hart  desireth  the  water  brooks,  so 
longeth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God.  My  soul  is 
athirst  for  God,  yea,  even  for  the  living  God :  when 
shall  I  come  to  appear  before  the  presence  of  God  ?  " 
Even  the  doctrine  of  forgiveness,  of  doing  good  to 
enemies,  to  the  growth  of  which  the  conditions  of 
Hebrew  life  were  less  favorable,  finds  expression  in 
the  Psalms.  Take  35  :  12,  13  :  "They  rewarded  me 
evil  for  good.  Nevertheless,  when  they  were  sick 
I  put  on  sackcloth,  and  humbled  my  soul  with 
fasting."  And  again,  "  If  I  have  rewarded  evil  unto 
him  that  dealt  friendly  with  me :  yea,  I  have  deliv- 
ered him  that  without  any  cause  is  mine  enemy" 
(Psa.  7:  4). 

There  are,  as  I  shall  presently  notice,  other  pas- 
sages of  a  different  strain.  But  it  is,  I  submit,  the 
general  strain  of  the  Psalms  to  which  we  should 
principally  look.  And  who  will  deny  that  they 
habitually  abound  in  humility,  in  penitential  abase- 
ment, in  the  strong  faith  which  is  the  evidence  of 


220 


THE  PSALMS. 


THE  PSALMS. 


and  of  casting  down  its  strongholds  to  the  ground. 
That  road  was  to  be  opened  by  the  Beatitudes  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  by  the  Faith,  Hope, 
and  Charity  of  St.  Paul.     Now,  is  there  one  of  those 
Beatitudes  which  has  not  been,  in  its  blossom  or  its 
germ,  anticipated  by  the  Psalms  ?    Take  the  sancti- 
fication  of  sorrow  in  verse  4:  so  the  Psalm  instructs 
us,  "Thy  loving  correction  shall  make  me  great" 
(Psa.  18:  35).     Take  the   blessing  of  the  meek 
(v.  5).     So  says  the  Psalmist:    "Lord,  I  am  not 
high-minded.     I  have  no  proud  looks.     I  refrain 
my  soul  and  keep  it  low.     My  soul  is  even  as  a 
weaned  child"  (Psa.  131 :  i,  3).     These  are  princi- 
pies,  not  only  which  the  ancient  philosophies  did  not 
contain,  but  which  they  would  have  repudiated  and 
contemned.     Take  again  that  blessing  of  satiety 
which  is  promised  to  "hunger  and   thirst"  after 
righteousness;  words  which  indicate  such  an  adult 
age,  such  a  fulness  of  growth  and  stature  in  the 
new  man  of  the  Christian  system,  that  what  was  at 
first  lesson  from  without  has  come  to  be  appetite 
from  within,  and  forms  part  of  the  untaught  spon- 


221 


f 


taneous  working  of  a  renewed  humanity.  But  this 
idea  is  fully  developed  in  the  Psalms  (42  :  i,  2): 
"Like  as  the  hart  desireth  the  water  brooks,  so 
longeth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God.  My  soul  is 
athirst  for  God,  yea,  even  for  the  living  God:  when 
shall  I  come  to  appear  before  the  presence  of  God  ?  " 
Even  the  doctrine  of  forgiveness,  of  doing  good  to 
enemies,  to  the  growth  of  which  the  conditions  of 
Hebrew  life  were  less  favorable,  finds  expression  in 
the  Psalms.  Take  35  :  12,  13  :  "They  rewarded  me 
evil  for  good.  Nevertheless,  when  they  were  sick 
I  put  on  sackcloth,  and  humbled  my  soul  with 
fasting."  And  again,  "  If  I  have  rewarded  evil  unto 
him  that  dealt  friendly  with  me :  yea,  I  have  deliv- 
ered him  that  without  any  cause  is  mine  enemy" 
(Psa.  7:  4). 

There  are,  as  I  shall  presently  notice,  other  pas- 
sages of  a  different  strain.  But  it  is,  I  submit,  the 
general  strain  of  the  Psalms  to  which  we  should 
principally  look.  And  who  will  deny  that  they 
habitually  abound  in  humility,  in  penitential  abase- 
ment, in  the  strong  faith  which  is  the  evidence  of 


it  Hit  L  iii||iuilli.iWi4Wii 


t 


222 


THE  PSALMS. 


things  not  seen,  in  fervor,  self- mistrust,  filial  confi- 
dence towards  God  ?  These  and  all  kindred  quali- 
ties they  develop  in  what,  for  want  of  a  better  word, 
I  will  term  their  innerness.  Their  tones  come  from 
the  inmost  heart,  and,  not  with  a  rude  familiarity, 
yet  with  a  wonderful  nearness,  they  seem  to  seek 
the  response,  if  the  phrase  may  be  used  without 
irreverence,  from  the  inner  heart  of  God  himself 

All  this  is  severed,  as  a  whole,  by  an  immeasur- 
able distance  from  the  language,  ideas,  and  mental 
habits  of  pagan  antiquity.     What  we  find  there  of 
religion  associated  with  intellectual  culture   turns 
upon  the  external  relations  between  God  and  man. 
as  between  sovereign  and  subject,  or  master  and 
dependant.      The    prehistoric    verse    of    Homer 
abounds  in  prayers.    They  are  not  such  commonly 
as  we   should   use,  yet  they  indicate  fully   these 
external  relations.     But  in  the  life  of  later,  of  clas- 
sical  Greece,  prayer  seems  wholly  to  have  lost  its 
force,  and  its  place  as  a  factor  in  human  life. 

Again,  in  the  "  Odyssey "  of  Homer  we  have 
remaining  traces  of  the  personal  relation  between 


THE  PSALMS, 


223 


man  and  God.  In  the  intercourse  of  Athene  with 
Odysseus,  and  reversely  in  her  action  on  the  minds 
of  the  guilty  Suitors,  there  are  distinct  traces 
of  the  belief  in  a  divine  force  working  within  the 
soul  of  man.  I  do  not  remember  to  have  found 
anything  like  this  in  the  later  classical  literature. 
But  the  development  of  the  principle  and  idea  of  a 
communion  with  God,  operative  on  human  feeling, 
thought,  and  action,  is  the  standing  and  central 
thought  of  the  Psalms.  And  it  is  probable  that,  the 
more  fixedly  we  regard  them,  the  more  of  their  dis- 
tinctive marks  we  shall  perceive,  even  as  the  stars 
in  heaven  multiply  to  the  gazing  eye.  The  per- 
vading idea  of  a  living  communion  with  the 
Most  High,  the  communion  which  both  gives  and 
takes,  exhibits  and  fulfils  itself  in  many  ways.  One 
of  them  is  the  use  of  intercessory  prayer;  a  trait 
conspicuously  absent  from  the  numerous  and  inter- 
esting prayers  of  Homer.  Another  is  that,  while 
full  of  warm  personal  interests,  they  persistently 
hold  up  the  banner  of  a  righteousness  apart  from 
and  above  all  personal  interests  whatever.    Another 


224 


THE  PSALMS. 


is  that  the  affections,  ah'enated  by  sin,  have  returned 
to  their  allegiance,  and  are  arrayed  on  the  side  of 
the  Most  High.     The  testimonies  of  God  are  the 
"very  joy"  of  the  Psalmist's  heart.     It  is  all  his 
desire,  that  the  divine  will  should  have  free  course 
and  be  glorified  upon  earth.    The  glory  of  God  has 
become  to  him  a  profound  personal  interest.    There 
is  a  community  of  concern,  purpose,  and  feeling,  re- 
ciprocated between  heaven  and  earth.   "  Set  up  thy- 
self, O   God,  above  the  heavens;  and  thy  glory 
above  all  the  earth.''      Sentiments  of  this  type  are, 
I  apprehend,  hardly  to  be  found  outside  the  pre- 
cinct of  the  Hebrew  race. 

I  will  only  note,  in  passing,  before  quitting  this 
subject,  two  remaining  characteristics;  the  height 
of  that  sacredness  which  the  Psalms  attach  to  the 
claims  of  the  poor;  and  their  sense  of  the  utter 
worthlessness  of  all  ceremonial  observances,  though 
commanded,  except  in  connection  with  the  service 
of  the  will  and  purification  of  the  heart 


THE  PSALMS, 


225 


IV.-— THE   OBJECTIONS   TAKEN   TO   THEM. 


Referring  to  what  has  been  said  elsewhere  on 
the  presence  of  a  human  element  in  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, I  will  now  introduce  a  few  words  on  the  spe- 
cial objection  which  is  lodged  against  the  Psalms. 

Let  me  first  endeavor  to  reduce  the  question  to 
its  true  dimension^     The  criticism  is  not  here  as 
It  might  be  in  sofne  cases  of  books  claiming  to  be 
sacred,  that  they  are  feeble,  or  fanciful,  or  remote 
from  hyma^  interests,  or  that  large  veins  of  clay 
run  throi)^  such  true  metal  as  they  contain.    The 
Psalms,  inl  th^  sublimity  and  in  their  sympathy, 
so  immeaiuraWy^  divine  and  so  intensely  human, 
are  proof  igainst  ahxsuch  criticism,  which  would 
be  no  better  than  cavil.     The   only  dart  which 
really  rings  upon   their  coat  of  mail  is  the  dart 
which  carries  the  reproach  of  their  severe  and  un- 
measured denunciation  of  enemies. 

And  first,  in  order  to  disembarrass  the  question 
of  matter  which  appears  to  be  extreme  and  excep- 

15 


226 


THE  PSALMS. 


tional,  I  will  refer  to  the  verse  which  represents 
the  ne  plus  ultra  of  the  difficulty,  as  it  stands  in 
the  Prayer-book  Version  of  the  Psalms ;  in  respect 
to  which  we  pay  a  certain  price  for  its  incompara- 
ble majesty  and  beauty,  in  the  shape  of  occasional 
though  rare  shortcomings  as  to  accuracy.  The 
Prayer  book  gives  verses  21,  22,  of  Psalm  139,  as 
follows : 

"  Do  not  I  hate  them,  O  Lord,  that  hate  thee :  and  am 
not  I  grieved  with  those  that  rise  up  against  thee  ? 

"  Yea,  I  hate  them  right  sore :  even  as  though  they  were 
mine  enemies." 

Which  seems  to  say,  "  I  have  a  reserved  stock  of 
special  and  superlative  hatred  for  those  who  have 
not  only  sinned  in  general,  but  have  sinned  against 
me  in  particular."  But  this  notion  is  completely  put 
aside  in  the  translation  direct  from  the  Hebrew  as  it 
stands  in  the  Authorized,  and  also  in  the  Revised 
Version,  where  the  second  of  the  two  verses  runs  : 

••  I  hate  them  with  a  perfect  hatred ;  I  count  them  mine 
enemies." 

This  seems  not  to   set   up  the  selfish  feeling. 


THE  PSALMS, 


227 


about  offense  personally  received,  above  the  senti- 
ment of  indignation  and  resentment  against  wick- 
edness; but  to  say  only,  "All  that  I  might  feel 
against  a  personal  enemy,  all  that  natural  ex- 
asperation would  suggest,  I  discharge  upon  the 
enemies  of  God."  But  the  sentiment  concerning 
them  has  already  been  expressed  in  terms  not 
admitting  of  enlargement.  "  I  hate  them  with  a 
perfect  hatred."  And  this  brings  the  objection  to 
a  point.  It  is  that  such  unmeasured  detestation 
and  invocation  of  wrath  by  man  even  upon  God's 
enemies  cannot  be  justified,  and  can  by  no  means 
be  referred  to  divine  inspiration. 

Now  let  us  notice,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
general  tone  of  the  Psalms  concerning  enemies  is 
not  aggressive,  but  defensive.  A  sense  of  trouble 
and  danger  from  the  might  of  experienced  or  im- 
pending assault,  and  an  appeal  to  God  for  protec- 
tion, furnish  the  staple  sentiment  of  the  Book.  I 
quote  a  single  instance,  which  is  a  fair  sample  of 
the  ground  assumed  in  the  whole  of  this  class  of 
passages  from  Psalm  56 :  i,  2 : 


228 


THE  PSALMS. 


"Be  merciful  unto  me,  O  God,  for  man  goeth  about  to 
devour  me  :  he  is  daily  fighting  and  troubling  me. 

"Mine  enemies  are  daily  in  hand  to  swallow  me  up: 
for  they  be  many  that  fight  against  me,  O  thou  Most 
Highest." 

Let  those  who  question  the  assertion  I  have 
made,  that  this  passage  has  a  character  typical  of 
the  whole,  refer  (among  other  places)  to  Psalms  5 : 
^\^''7\  7  '-  5;  1^:27, passim;  56:9;  59:  i'^6g: 
4;  118  :  II,  12;  138  :  7;   143  :g. 

But  undoubtedly  a  certain  number  of  passages 
are  not  defensive,  they  are  denunciatory;  such  as 
54  :  5,  7;  59  •  10;  92  :  11;  143  :  12.  I  will  recite 
this  last  verse  in  full,  for  it  brings  into  view  the 
sentiment  which  forms  the  base  of  all  these  pas- 
sages: "And  of  thy  goodness  slay  mine  enemies, 
and  destroy  all  them  that  vex  my  so\i\,forIam  thy 
servant"  If  we  put  these  words  into  paraphrase, 
the  Psalmist  pleads  that  he  is  engaged  in  the  service 
of  God;  that  in  this  service  he  is  assailed  and 
hindered;  that,  powerfess  in  himself,  he  appeals  to 
the  source  of  power;  and  that  he  invokes  upon  the 


THE  PSALMS. 


229 


assailants  and   hinderers  of  the   divine  work  the 
divine  vengeance,  even  to  their  extinction. 

We  have,  then,  to  consider  these  denunciatory 
passages,  first,  as  they  were  employed  by  their 
authors;  secondly,  as  they  are  now  presented  to  us 
for  our  own  use  in  the  services  of  the  Church,  or  in 
private  devotion. 

Under  the  first  head,  let  me  observe  as  follows. 
There  is  not  one  of  these  passages  which  tampers 
with  truth  or  justice;  they  are  aimed  only  at  sin,  to 
blast  and  to  wither  it.  "  Lead  me,  O  Lord,  in  thy 
righteousness,  because  of  mine  enemies"  (Psa.  5  :  8). 
This  is  the  universal  strain.  All  these  passages  are 
strokes  delivered  with  the  sword  of  righteousness, 
in  its  unending  warfare  with  iniquity.  Nor  is  there 
one  among  them,  of  which  it  can  be  shown  that  it 
refers  to  any  personal  feud,  passion,  or  desire. 
Everywhere  the  Psalmist  speaks  in  the  name  of 
God,  on  behalf  of  his  word  and  will ;  in  behalf  of 
righteousness,  and  against  iniquity. 

But  it  may  still  be  urged,  that  such  denunciations 
are  excessive  in  degree,  that  they  are  too  severe  and 


230 


THE  PSALMS. 


savage,  and  that  they  are  not  suitable  for  the  mouth 
of  a  being  such  as  man;  who  in  the  sense  of  his 
own  shortcomings  and  sins  should  learn  a  lesson 
of  abstention  from  judgment  upon  his  fellows. 

With  respect  to  their  severity  I  suggest,  and  if 
need  be  contend,  that  we,  in  our  ignorance  and 
weakness,  are  not  fit  judges  of  the  extent  to  which 
the  wisdom  of  the  Almighty  may,  under  given 
circumstances  differing  widely  from  ours,  justly 
carry  the  denunciation,  even  by  the  mouth  of  man, 
and  the  punishment  of  guilt. 

Man,  and  even  civilized  man,  contemplates  with 
much  equanimity  the  taking  of  human  life  for  the 
occasions  which  he  deems  sufficient.     He  knows 
that  in  all  wars  one  party  must  be  guilty,  and  that 
in  most  or  many  wars  neither  have  had  a  justifi- 
cation for  the  wholesale  bloodshed,  which  floods 
the  path  of  destruction  that  they  necessarily  fol- 
low.    Life,  which  man  did  not   give  and    cannot 
restore,  he  takes  away,  for  the  repression  of  crime, 
with  general,  though  not  unanimous,  approval.     It 
is  also  taken,  even  now,  in  most  Christian  coun- 


THE  PSALMS. 


231 


tries,  through  duels  for  private  injury  or  insult; 
and  it  is  but  recently  that  public  opinion  in  our 
own  country  has  become  repugnant  to  the  practice. 
But  the  scruples,  which  for  ourselves  we  so  easily 
thrust  aside,  become  active,  feverish,  and  even  vio- 
lent, when,  in  a  world  to  the  abundant  wickedness 
of  which  our  own  practice  witnesses,  the  Ruler  of 
that  world,  who  gave  life  for  use,  and  who  sees 
and  judges  its  abuse,  is  to  be  arraigned  before  our 
mock  tribunal ;  and  we,  who  cannot  and  do  not 
rightly  guide,  each  «of  us,  our  own  action,  are  to 
undertake  to  determine  his.  And  this,  when  we 
have  not  fully  learned,  and  cannot  measure,  either 
the  deep  and  frightful  depravity  of  the  Canaanit- 
ish  nations,  or  the  purposes  with  which,  from  time 
to  time,  penalty  descends  from  on  high.  We  know 
not  whether  it  comes  in  mercy  to  correct  the 
growth  of  evil  before  it  shall  become  incurable ; 
and  whether,  or  how  far,  when  opportunity  has 
been  exhausted  here,  resources  may  still  have  been 
held  in  reserve  on  behalf  of  persons  placed  as 
they  were,  to  be  expended  for  good  in  the  great 


232 


THE  PSALMS, 


Elsewhere.  To  pronounce  verdicts  upon  these 
terrible  denunciations  may  be  impious;  and  is 
surely,  at  the  least,  unreasonable. 

"And  who  art  thou,  that  on  the  bench  would  sit. 
To  judge  what  is  a  thousand  miles  removed, 
With  the  brief  vision  of  a  single  span  ?  "  » 

There  is  certainly  more  claim  to  substance  in 
the  objection,  which  urges  that  these  denunciations 
are  unsuitable  for  man.     But  here  I  should  inter- 
pose  the  question.  To  what  man  ?     The  wonderful 
nature,  in  which  we  have  been  created,  is  in  noth- 
ing more  wonderful  than  in  the  diversity  of  the 
conditions  under  which  it  has  to  subsist  and  work, 
on  its  road  from  embryo  to  perfection.     As  those 
stages  accumulate,  the  moral  code  becomes  multi- 
form and  involved.     In  simpler  forms  of  life,  and 
in  earlier  stages  of  society,  the  roads  between  right 
and  wrong  were  short,  broad,  and  clear.     Even  so 
were  then  the  dividing  spaces  of  the  battle-field, 
whereas    contending    hosts    are  now  severed    by 
miles,  and  almost  leagues,  from  one  another. 

*  Dante,  "  Parad."  XIX.  8i.     Pollock's  translation. 


ij 


THE  PSALMS, 


233 


But,  further,  the  Psalmists,  and  the   nation  to 
which  they  belonged,  lived  under  a  different  dis- 
pensation  from  ours.     If  we  accept  the  Scriptures, 
that  nation  held  a  divine  commission  to  establish 
the  right  and  to  put  down  the  wrong,  in  a  sense 
in  which  no  such  commission  is  now  given.     For 
us,  it  is  enough  to  hope  that  at  any  given  juncture 
we  may  be  doing  the  will  of  God.     But  what  we 
hope,  they  knew;  and  sight  for  them  was  mixed 
with  faith  in  a  degree  and  mode  very  remote  from 
the  spirit  of  our  later,  and,  in  this  respect,  perhaps 
higher  training.     They  were  accustomed  to  what 
may  be  termed   short   accounts   with   the   divine 
justice;  and  to  reward  or  suffering  as  the  immedi- 
ate consequences,  and,  therefore,  as  the  direct  at- 
testations, of  the  judgment  of  God  upon  the  moral 
conduct  of  man.     The  responsibility,  which  \s  for  us 
diffused  and  indefinite,  was  for  them  concentrated 
and  palpable.      But,    Lesides   this,   they  had   the 
great  standing  institution  of  prophecy;    and    the 
king  in  whose  ears  Nathan's  words  had  thundered, 
"  Thou  art  the  man,"  might  well  feel  that  his  own 


234 


THE  PSALMS, 


contact  was  a  close  one  with  the  mind  of  the 
Almighty,  and  that  he  might  upon  occasion  speak 
his  very  strongest  words  under  guidance  from 
on  high. 

I  do  not  pursue  farther  these  remarks,  which  are 
no  more  than  tentative  and  approximate.  But  I 
cannot  find  myself  justified  in  the  assumption  that 
we  have  in  all  cases  a  complete  cognizance  of  the 
conditions  under  which  the  Psalms  give  judgment 
upon  the  unrighteous,  or  are  intended  to  arrive  at 
final  conclusions  on  the  question  what  the  Jews 
might,  and  what  they  might  not,  suitably  be  com- 
missioned by  the  Almighty  to  denounce. 

More  immediately  are  we  concerned  in  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  place  held  in  Christian  devotion,  and 
especially  in  public  ritual,  by  the  denunciatory  pas- 
sages of  the  Psalms.  It  is  one  question  what  these 
denunciations  were  for  the  Jew ;  it  is  another,  and 
entirely  a  distinct  one,  what  they  are  for  us.  But 
the  answer  to  this  objection,  I  apprehend,  lies  near 
to  hand.  All  scruple,  at  least  all  rational  or  plausi- 
ble scruple  in  this  matter,  seems  to  rest  upon  the 


THE  PSALMS, 


235 


supposition  that  the  passages  are  aimed  at  creat- 
ures who  have   characters    mixed  between  good 
and  evil,  and  who  therefore  are  not  presumptively 
fit  subjects  for  unmixed,  undiscriminating  denun- 
ciation  by  their  fellow-men.     But  can   any  one 
reasonably  suppose  that  these  declarations  are,  in 
the   mind    and    sense   of   the   Christian   Church, 
directed  against  any  human  enemy  ?     Our  human 
enemies,  if  we  are  so  unhappy  as  to  have  any,  are 
not  the  most  watchful,  the  most  subtle,  the  most 
destructive   of   our  foes.     "For  we  wrestle  not 
against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against  ...  the  rulers 
of  the  darkness  of  this  world  "  (Eph.  6  :  12).     Both 
the  Holy  Scripture  and  the  Christian  religion  teach, 
and  our  human  experience  largely  testifies  to  a  more 
formidable  conflict.     There  are  spirits  whose  meat 
and  drink,  so  to  speak,  it  is  to  extend  the  domain 
of  evil,  to  deepen  corruption,  to  destroy  happiness 
by  destroying  innocence,  which  is  its  base ;  to  add, 
both  in  range  and  in  intensity,  to  the  misery  and 
the  sin  which  have  made  the  world  so  sad.     If 
this  be  so,  then   I  contend  that  to  pray  for  the 


236 


THE  PSALMS, 


abolition  or  paralysis  of  their  work  and  of  its 
agents,  and  this  especially  when  we  meet  as  Chris- 
tians to  set  forth  solemnly  the  collective  as  well 
as  impersonal  needs  and  aspirations  of  mankind,  is 
a  practice  which  speaks  for  itself,  and  requires 
neither  justification  nor  apology. 

Apart  altogether  from  the  question,  what  may 
be  the  value  or  completeness  of  the  foregoing  de- 
fensive suggestions,  I  would  remind  my  readers 
that  they  relate  not  to  the  main  body  of  the  ques- 
tion respecting  the  Psalms,  but  to  a  portion  of  it 
which  is  limited  and  exceptional.  The  Psalms, 
like  other  productions,  are  to  be  judged  by  their 
general  character.  I  do  not  perceive  how,  if  we 
approach  this  question  on  the  grounds  and  in  the 
spirit  of  reason,  it  is  possible  for  a  person  so 
approaching  it  to  set  aside  the  mass  of  evidence, 
which  establishes  the  unparalleled  and  unap- 
proached  position  of  the  Book  in  its  antiquity 
and  use,  in  its  pure  and  noble  theology,  and  in  a 
moral  and  spiritual  character  witnessed  afresh  by 
the  judgment  and  practice  of  each  succeeding  age. 


I 


I 


THE  PSALMS, 


237 


And,  if  the  several  parts  of  this  evidence  link  them- 
selves into  a  compact  and  harmonious  whole,  it  is 
not  reason,  but  unreason  in  the  mask  of  reason, 
which  declines  or  omits  to  acknowledge  the  pre- 
sumption thence  arising,  that  the  Book  is  at  a  level 
indefinitely  higher  than  has  been  reached  by  the 
unassisted  faculties  of  man,  and  that  the  power 
which  raised  it  to  that  level  can  only  be  divine. 
Such  a  conclusion  will  survive  even  the  approving 
reference  in  Psalm  137  :  9,  to  a  practice  of  savage 
warfare.  Were  it  true  that  the  image  of  gold  had 
feet  of  clay,  we  might  indeed  be  perplexed  by  the 
combination;  but  would  not  this  be  just  as  we 
often  are  perplexed  by  other  combinations,  pre- 
sented to  us  in  the  providential  government  of  the 
world  ?  And  not  only  in  the  providential  govern- 
ment of  the  world,  but  in  the  fulfilment  of  our 
personal  relations  with  other  men.  Yet  we  do  not 
put  an  end  on  that  account  to  such  relations :  nor 
do  we  cease  to  believe  in  God  because  we,  such  as 
we  are — God  save  the  mark — cannot  comprehend 
the  reason,  or  even  discern  the  rightfulness,  of  all 


238 


THE  PSALMS, 


he  does.  So  neither,  by  parity  of  reasoning,  can 
we  refuse  to  admit  sufficient  evidence  of  an  origin 
more  than  human  for  the  Psalms  on  the  ground  that 
we  see  only  through  a  glass  darkly,  and  that  they 
present  incidental  features  of  apparent  difficulty, 
analogous  in  principle  to  those  which  in  other 
departments  our  experience  brings  before  us. 


V. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


The  legislative  books  of  the  Pentateuch,  from 
Exodus  to  Deuteronomy,  may  be  contemplated  in 
the  light,  either  (i)  of  their  credentials,  or  (2)  of 
their  character  and  contents. 

The  Christian    Church,    which   had   heretofore 
regarded  them  as  an  integral  and  instructive  part 
of   the   divine   revelation,   is   now  challenged  by 
the  voices  of  numerous  critics  to    defend  them. 
Champions  in  this  cause  are  not  wanting;   and  it 
is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  learned  in  linguistic 
studies  have  arrived  at  unanimous  and  final  con- 
clusions in  these  grave  matters.     If  we  compare 
their  studies,   as    to    unanimity,   continuity,  and 
ascertained    progress,    with  that    of  the    natural 
sciences,  the  comparison  will  be  not  at  all  to  their 
advantage.     Their  services  are  not,  however,  to  be 

239 


240 


THE  MOSAIC  LEG  IS  LA  TION, 


unduly  disparaged.  What  is  understood  to  be  at 
issue  is,  the  date  and  authorship  of  the  books  in 
the  form  in  which  we  now  have  them.  These  are 
contested  by  the  negative  school  on  grounds  of 
language  and  style,  upon  which  none  can  properly 
attempt  to  follow  or  to  judge  them,  unless  when 
equipped  with  the  same  special  knowledge.  They 
also  allege,  as  parts  of  the  destructive  argument, 
that  the  books  contain  anachronisms,  contradic- 
tions, statements  disproved  by  history. 

They  have    recently  been    challenged    by  Dr. 
Cave»  to  set  forth  a  plain  and  distinct  statement  of 
these  difficulties,  such  as  might  bring  the  allega- 
tions in  some  degree  within  the  circles  of  knowl- 
edge and  of  judgment,  for  us,  who  are  not  experts, 
but  are  a  public  supposed  to  be  endued  with  ordi- 
nary intelligence.     They  are  also  invited  to   state 
what  meaning  they  assign  to  the  standing  phrase, 
"  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,"  which  with  its 
variants  occurs,  it  may  be  observed,  no  less  than 
thirty  times  in  the  twenty-seven  chapters  of  Leviti- 

»  Contemporary  Review,  April,  1890,  pp.  537-551. 


I 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION, 


241 


cus.  And,  finally,  they  are  solicited  by  Dr.  Cave 
to  show  in  plain  terms  the  reasons  why  it  is  unrea- 
sonable to  suppose  that  the  books  (either  in  their 
present  state  or  otherwise)  were,  from  the  time  of 
Moses  onwards,  contemporaneous  with  the  events 
described,  and  that  they  grew  up  one  by  one  along 
with  those  events. 

It  seems  but  common  equity  that  we,  who  stand 
outside  the  learned  world,  and  who  find  operations 
are  in  progress,  which  are  often  declared  to  have 
destroyed  the  authority  of  these   ancient   books, 
should  be  supplied,  as  far  as  may  be,  with  avail- 
able means  of  rationally  judging  the  nature  and 
grounds  of  the  impeachment.     And  it  is  unfortu- 
nate that  this  has  been  little  thought  of;  and  that, 
while  we  are,  it  may  almost  be  said,  drenched  with 
the  deductions  and  conclusions  of  the   negative 
critics,^  it  is  still  so  difficult,  in  multitudes  of  in- 
stances,  to  come  at  any  clear  view  of  the  grounds 

1  These  observations  refer  to  the  works  of  some  Continental  wri- 
ters, notably  Dr.  Reuss ;  and  in  no  way  to  such  works  as  the  able 
volume  of  Dr.  Driver  on  the  Old  Testament,  published  since  the  first 
edition  of  these  essays. 

16 


\ 


242 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


on  which  they  build.  The  matters  of  style  and 
language  we  must  contentedly  take  upon  trust; 
but  anachronism,  contradiction  of  history,  contra- 
diction in  the  books  themselves,  ought  to  be  more 
or  less  within  our  cognizance.  And  there  are 
many  arguments  of  historical  verisimilitude  and 
likelihood,  which  are  in  no  sense  the  exclusive 
property  of  specialism. 

Even  within  the  compass  of  the  Torah,  a  dis- 
tinction has  been  drawn  by  some  eminent  critics 
(by  Eichhorn,  for  example),  in  their  writings  on  the 
canon  of  the  Old  Testament;^  who  have  assigned 
the  legislative  portions  generally  to  Moses  himself, 
and  the  historical  parts  to  scribes  acting  under  his 
direction,  or  at  a  later  time. 

It  does  not  appear  easy  to  show  why  such  a 
singular  intermixture  of  the  two  should  have  been 
made,  unless  it  were  by  or  under  the  direction  of 
the  lawgiver  himself.     The  tangled  occupations  of 

1  A  most  convenient  summary  of  the  history  of  critical  opinion  on 
the  Pentateuch  is  supplied  by  Bleek  cum  Wellhausen  in  the  EinUit-  ' 
ung  (Ed.  1886),  sects.  13-17.     Wellhausen  adds  another  review  at 
the  close  of  the  volume  in  this  edition. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 

his  evidently  hard-pressed  life  would  account  for  a 
form  of  authorship,  which  is  not  in  itself  at  all  con- 
venient. But  the  ordinary  reader  will  not  fail  to 
observe  that  it  is  the  legislation,  for  which  in  the 
sacred  text  itself  the  claim  is  constantly  made  of 
being  due  to  direct  communication  from  above, 
while  no  corresponding  assertion  in  general  accom- 
panies the  historical  recitals. 

Speaking  at  large,  every  imaginable   difference 
has  prevailed  among  the  critics  themselves  as  to 
the  source,  date,  and  authorship  of  the  books.    But 
on  the  whole,  the  negative  movement  has  become 
bolder  in  its  assertions  as  it  proceeded,  and  has 
brought  them  gradually  towards  later  epochs:  to 
Samuel,  to  the  age  of  David,  to  the  severance  of 
the  kingdoms,  to  Josiah,  to  the  Captivity,  and  even 
to  those  who  followed  it.    The  affirmative  side  has 
been  also  stoutly  maintained,'  not  without  the  ad^ 
mission  of  particular  additions  and  interpolations 
in  the  received  text.     The  distinction  between  sub- 
stantial authorship,  and  final  editorship,  has  been 

'  Bleek,  EiaUitung,  seel.  13. 


244 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION, 


largely  recognized  by  writers  of  celebrity  and 
weight.  Bleek  himself,  apparently  sustained  by 
Wellhausen  as  late  as  1886,  held  that  Moses  had  a 
hand  {einen  antheil)  in  the  legislative  books.  Many 
of  the  laws,  they  say  at  that  date,  are  without  sense 
or  purpose,  except  in  regard  to  circumstances 
which  disappeared  with  the  Mosaic  period.*  Several 
sections  of  this  important  work^  are  given  to  the 
indication  of  portions  of  the  books  which  must 
have  been  Mosaic.  Further,  we  have  the  follow- 
ing  remarkable  declaration.  Though  the  entire 
Pentateuch  in  its  present  form  should  not  have  been 
the  work  of  Moses,  and  though  many  laws  are  the 
product  of  a  later  age,  still  the  legislation,  in  its  spir- 
it and  character  as  a  whole,  is  genuinely  Mosaic;' 
and  that,  in  dealing  with  the  Pentateuch,  we  stand, 
at  least  as  to  the  three  middle  books,  upon  histori- 
cal ground;*  evidently  meaning  upon  ground  which 
is  historical  as  opposed  to  that  which  is  unauthenti- 

1  Bleek.  Einleitung,  sect.  ii.  *  Ibid.,  sects.  13-24. 

^  "  So  muss  dock  die  darin  enihaltene  gesetzgebung  ihrem  ganzen 
geiste  und  character  nach  echt  mosaisch  seyn." — Ibid.,  sect.  22,  p.  45. 

^Ibid. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


245 


cated  or  legendary.  Further,  what  is  thus  generally 
asserted  of  the  spirit  and  character  of  the  Penta- 
teuchal  laws,  is  asserted,  for  an  important  share  of 
them,*  as  to  both  the  contents  and  even  the  form. 

These  statements — it  would  not  be  fair  to  call 
thepi  admissions — go  to  the  root  of  the  whole 
matter,  and  seem  to  leave  us  in  possession  of  that 
for  which  alone  I  contend ;  namely,  that  the  heart 
and  substance  of  the  legislative  and  institutional 
system  delivered  to  us  in  the  Pentateuch  is  his- 
torically trustworthy.  If  this  be  so,  it  still  remains 
highly  important  to  distinguish  by  critical  exami- 
nation what,  if  any,  particular  portions  of  the  work 
in  their  actual  form  may  be  open  to  question,  either 
as  secondary  errors,  or  as  developments  appended 
to  the  original  formation;  but  the  citadel,  so  long 
victoriously  held  by  faith  and  reason,  both  through 
Hebrew  and  through  Christian  ages,  remains  unas- 
sailed,  and  the  documents  of  Holy  Writ  emerge 
substantially  unhurt  from  the  inquisitive  and  search- 
ing analysis  of  the  modern  time. 

1  Einleitung,  sect.  23,  p.  46. 


246  THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 

In  more  recent  productions  we  find  an  extension 
of  the  field  of  debate  and  a  change  of  tone. 

There  is  a  later  work  of  Wellhausen's'  which 
m,nutely  subdivides  the  books  into  smaller  portions 
and  refers  these  to  their  different  authors,  with  a 
self-reliance  which  appears  to  be  remarkable  but 
of  which  I  am  not  a  fit  judge.     I  n,ay  observe 
however,  that  this  work  has  neither  introduction 
nor  conclusion,  neither  index  nor  table  of  contents 
and  that  it  resembles  rather  the  promiscuous  gath- 
enngs  of  a  note-book,  or  rather,  of  two  note-books 
crossmg  one  another,   discharged   bodily  into  a 
pnntmg-office,  than  a  work  of  regular  or  scientific 
cnticsm.     I  must  add  that  in  certain  cases,  where 
the  unity  of  the  text  is  disputed  upon  grounds 
ahke  cognizable  by  us  all,  I  find  the  conclusions 
of  the  author  as   disputable  as   they  are  confi- 
dent.   In  other  instances,  numerous  enough  asser- 
tions are  made,  as  if  they  were  oracles,  without 
the  slightest  explanation,  or  any  indication  of  their 

'"Die  composition  des  He=ca.eucl.'s  und  der  Historischen  Bucher  " 
Berlin,  1889. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


247 


grounds.  Examples  of  these  methods  may  be 
found  in  the  criticisms^  on  Genesis,  and  in  the 
contradiction  alleged  to  exist  in  the  several  ac- 
counts of  Caleb  and  Joshua  (Numb.  ^2  :  5,  and 
Deut.  I  :  32-38). 

A  still  more  negative  utterance,  if  I  understand 
it  rightly,  is  found  in  the  "  Prolegomena  to  the 
History  of  Israel,"  translated  under  the  author's 
supervision,  and  accompanied  with  his  article  on 
Israel  from  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica.^    This 
.  book,  published   since  the  edition  of  Bleek  aijn 
Wellhausen  from  which  I  have  quoted,  appears  in 
a  singular  manner  to  contradict  it,  and  announces 
that  "  the  Mosaic  history  is  not  the  starting-point 
of  the  history  of  ancient  Israel,  but  for  the  history 
of  Judaism." 3    The  distinction  may  not  be  familiar 
to  English  readers,  but  the  meaning  seems  to  be 
that  the  Pentateuch  had  not,  either  in  form  or  sub- 
stance, any  operative  existence  until  after  the  Exile, 
when  the  ancient  Israel  is  held  to  end,  and  Judaism' 

1  Page  7.  7  Edinburgh  :  A.  &  C.  Black.  1885. 

•Preface  by  Professor  Robertson  Smith,  p.  v. 


248  THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 

to  begin.     A  "  Mosaic  germ "  only  is  admitted ; 
and  a  germ  is  that  which,  like  an  unborn  child,  has 
no  operative  existence,  but  only  the  promise  of 
producing  one  at  some  future  date.     According, 
then,  to  the  showing  of  those  who  tender  them- 
selves as  our  guides,  Israel  lived  on  for  nine  hundred 
years,  from  the  Exodus,  and  transmitted  a  peculiar 
faith,  law,  ritual,  and  nationality,  without  any  legis- 
lative, or  ritual,  or  institutional   system  to  uphold 
any  one  of  them.     This  very  startling  proposition 
appears  to  me  to  do  violence  to  reason  not  less 
glaringly  than  any  of  the  assertions  ventured  by 
the  theologians  in  the  days  of  their  pride  and  power. 
Those  writers  are  doubtless  perfectly  sincere,  who 
represent  this  as  a  method  of  progressive  revelation. 
But  there  are  also  persons  who  think  that  such  a 
progressive  revelation  as  this  would  for  over  two 
thousand  years  have  palmed  upon  the  whole  Jewish 
and  Christian  worid  not  only  a  heartless,  but  an 
impossible    imposture.     It  is   more    immediately 
necessary  to  observe  that  the  hypothesis  is  one 
reaching  far  beyond  the  province  of  specialism,  and 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


249 


requiring  to  be  tested  at  a  number  of  points  by 
considerations  more  broadly  historical.     Nor  can 
I   quit   the   subject   without   observing   that   it  is 
extremely  difficult  to  learn  whether  there  exists  any 
real  standing-ground,  which  the  present  negative 
writers   mean   not   only  to   occupy  but  to   hold. 
Almost  any  representation  of  their  views  may  be 
either  supported  or  contradicted  by  citing  partic- 
ular expressions  from  their  works.     All  we  can  do 
is  to  dive  as  best  we  may  into  their  conception  of 
what    Wellhausen    rather    singulariy    calls    "the 
secrets"  of  his  art;  as  though  he  considered  that  its 
processes  are  akin  to  those  of  the  occult  sciences.' 
Upon  the  whole,  and  taking  the  article  on  Israel  in 
the  Encyclopadia  Britannica  as  the  fairest  exposi- 
tion of  his  views,  I  infer  that  the  present  fashion  is 
to  believe  in  Moses,  but  to  question  even  his  con- 
nection with  the  Decalogue ;»  to  allow  him  to  have 
given  or  suggested  a  something,  totally  indefinite 
in  its  character,  to  the  Israelites ;  and  to  hold  that 

^EiiUeitung,  Ed.  1886,  Vorwort. 
»  Wellhausen,  ••  Hist.  Israel "  (Black),  pp.  436,  509. 


250 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


the  materials  of  the  legislative  books,  as  a  whole, 
gradually  grew  up  out  of  material  supplied  upon 
occasion   by  the   priests    (like   the   "Answers   of 
Experts," »  which   supplied  a  contribution  to  the 
Code  of  Justinian)  into  a  state  which  enabled  editors, 
generally  post-Exilic,  to  reduce  them  to  their  pres- 
ent form.     This  scheme  seems  to  be  admirably  rep- 
resented by  the  words  which  Mr.  Robertson  Smith 
quotes,  on  his  own  very  high  authority,  as  its  gist. 
And  this  is  the  scheme  to  which  I  desire,  on  his- 
torical grounds,  to  demur. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  undeniable  that,  even  if 
the  outside  negative  conclusions  were  still  such  as 
they  were  stated  to  be  so  lately  as  in  1886,  yet  the 
impression  they  had  created  was  not  of  a  similarly 
limited  character.     Whether  owing  to  the  predis- 
positions of  the  time,  or  to  a  spirit  latent  in  some 
of  the  critics,  or  to  the  reaction  which  is  usually 
perceptible  when  certain  ideas  long  cherished  on  one 
side  have  been  found  to  require  modification,  there 
have  been,  as  it  were,  exhalations  from  the  recent 

"Gibbon  (Milman's  ed.),  IV.,  193. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


251 


inquiries,  extending  outwards  in  their  effect  much 
beyond  the  positive  conclusions.     An  atmosphere 
has  been  diffused  around  us,  and  we  habitually 
inhale  it,  which  inspires  a  general  uncertainty,  lead- 
ing to  negation,  with  respect  to  the  Mosaic  books. 
This  causes  us,  not,  perhaps,  to  believe  (for  belief 
would  imply  and  demand  a  rational  process),  but 
to  feel  towards  these  great  foundation-books  as  if 
we  believed,  that,  instead  of  being  as  to  the  heart 
and  pith  of  them  trustworthy,  they  were  in  the 
main  untrustworthy;  that  they  were  compounded  or 
composed  at  uncertain  times,  by  uncertain  authors, 
from  uncertain  materials;  that  even  bad  faith  is  to 
be  traced  in  them ;  and  that  the  question  is  not  so 
much   what  particulars   can  be  convicted  of  un- 
authenticity,  as  whether  any  particulars   can   be 
rescued  from  the  general  discredit  of  a  mythical  or 
legendary  inception.     It  is  against  this  vague,  ir- 
rational, unscientific  method  of  proceeding,  that  I 
would  enter  not  a  protest  only,  but  a  pleading. 
Whatever  is   to  happen,  let  not  Christians   lose 
unawares  either  their  faith,  or  that  pillar  of  their 


252 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION, 


faith  which  the  great  books  of  the  Old  Testament 
always  have  supplied. 

I  have  already  made  it  clear  that  I  yield,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  to  the  conclusions  of  linguists  in 
their  own  domain,  not  only  respectful  attention,  but 
provisional  assent.     That  domain  includes  not  only 
criticism  strictly  textual,  but  all  that  relates  to  style, 
and,  in  a  word,  whatever  properties  of  any  given 
writings  are  developed  through  the  medium  of  the 
particular  tongue  m  which  they  are  composed.    On 
the  mere  form  of  the  books,  they  speak  with  a  force 
which,  as  against  us,  the  unlearned,  is  overwhelming. 
But,  in  the  examinations  directed  to  the  matter  as 
opposed  to  the  form,  their  authority  is  of  a  less 
stringent  character,  and  may  even  decline  to  zero. 
The  historical  aspects  and  relations  which  open  out 
this  field  are  not  theirs  exclusively,  and  we  may 
canvass  and  question  their  conclusions,  just  as  it 
IS  open  to  us  to  proceed  with  the  conclusions  of 
Macaulay  or  of  Grote. 

When  it  is  attempted  to  bring  down  the  date  of 
the  Pentateuch  from  the  time  of  Moses,  by  whom 


THE  MOSAIC  LEG  IS  LA  TION. 


233 


the  books  in  various  forms  purport*  to  have  been 
composed,  to  the  period  of  the  Babylonian  Captivity, 
and  this  not  only  as  to  their  literary  form,  but  as 
to  their  substance,  the  evident  meaning  and  effect 
of  the  attempt  is  to  divest  them  of  a  historical,  and 
to  invest  them  with  a  legendary  character. 

At  the  same  time,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  those  who  have  not  seen  reason  to  adopt  the 
negative  theory  above  described  leave  entirely  open 
numerous  questions  belonging  to  the  institutions 
of  the  Israelites.  It  is  not  extravagant  to  assume 
that  laws  given  to  them  as  a  nomad  people,  and 
then  subjected  to  the  varying  contingencies  of  his- 
tory during  many  centuries,  may  or  even  must  have 
required  and  received  adaptation  by  supplement, 
development,  or  change  in  detail,  which  the  ap- 

1  For  instance,  as  by  the  proem  to  Deuteronomy  (1:1):  the  recited 
orders  of  the  Almighty  to  Moses  that  he  should  speak,  followed  by 
the  speeches-^.^..  Lev.  i  :  i,  Num.  1  :  1 .  the  constant  verbal  report 
of  words  spoken  to  Moses  when  no  other  person  (or  in  some  cases 
Aaron  only)  was  present;  and  the  remarkable  and  high-toned  injunc- 
tions in  the  later  chapters  of  Deuteronomy,  which  all  through  seem  to 
have  reference  to  a  code  of  legislation  preceding  them. 


254  THE  MOSAIC  LEG/SLA  TION. 

pointed  instructors  of  the  people  were  authorized 
and  quah-fied  to  supply;  and  all  this  not  in  deroga- 
tion but  rather  in  completion  and  in  furtherance 
of  the  work  of  Moses,  which  might  still  remain  his 
in  essence  from  first  to  last. 

It  is  admitted,  however,  that  the  whole  question 
must  be  tried  on  historical  and  literary  grounds. 

On  such  grounds  I  seek  to  approach  it.  and  to 
throw  hght  upon  it  from  some  considerations  of 
reason  and  probability,  which  appear  to  me  to  be 
of  not  inconsiderable  cogency.     By  testing  the 

subject  in  this  way.  we  may  come,  in  part  at  least 
to  learn  by  testing  what  in  the  main  is  fact,  what' 
.n  the  main  is  speculation,  and  to  a  great  extent 
fluctuatmg  and  changeful  speculation. 

First,  it  is  never  to  be  forgotten  that  our  point  of 
departure  is  from  the  ground  of  established  historic 
fact.  The  existence  of  Moses  is  even  better  and 
far  better  established  than  that  (for  example)  of 
Lycurgus.  We  know  Lycurgus  in  the  main  from 
the  one  great  fact  of  his  ve^.  peculiar  institutions 
They,  such  as  we  find  them  in  historic  times,  com- 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 

pel  us  to  presume  his  existence  in  a  prehistoric 
time.     Not  only  their  high  and  elaborate  organiza- 
tion, but  their  practical  efficacy  in  separating  and 
fencing  off  from  the  rest  of  Greece  the  Spartan 
community,  reduces  to  something  near  absurdity 
any  such  supposition  as  that  they  were  essentially 
no  more  than  a  late  growth  reached  by  impercep- 
tible degrees.     We  know  Moses  quite  as  well  from 
his  institutions;  which  are  by  no  means  less  pecu- 
liar, and  which,  as   experience  has  shown,  have 
been  ver^  far  more  durable.     In  the  case  of  Moses 
It  happens  that  we  have  much  evidence  indepen- 
dent of,  and  anterior  to.  the  institutions  themselves 
in  their  historic  form.     Yet  no  one  doubts  either 
the  existence  of  the  Spartan  lawgiver,  or  the  gen- 
eral character  of  his  personal  work.     If  the  form 
of  the  books  in   which    the    Mosaic  legislation 
reaches  us  be  open  to  the  suspicion  of  manipula- 
tion  by  scribes  or  editors,  or  if  it  suggest  some 
suspicion  of  developments,  how  does  this  compare 
with  the  case  of  Lycurgus  ?     About  or  from  him 
we  have  no  books  at  all ;  and  yet  it  would  be 


256 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


deemed  irrational  to  doubt  either  the  existence  of 
the  man,  or  the  substance  of  the  work  performed 
by  him. 

The  exodus  from  Egypt,  the  settlement  in  Pales- 
tine, the  foundation  there  of  institutions,  civil  and 
religious,  which  were  endowed  with  a  tenacity  of 
life  and  a  peculiarity  of  character  beyond  all  exam- 
ple ;  these  things  are  established  by  Scripture,  but 
they  are  also  established  independent  of  Scripture. 
They  constitute   a   trinoda  necessitas,   a   threefold 
combination  of  fact,  which,  in  order  to  make  them 
intelligible  and  coherent,  in  order  to  supply  a  ra- 
tional connection  between  cause  and  effect,  appears 
to  require  not  only  a  Moses,  but,  in  substance,  such 
a  Moses  as  the  Scripture  supplies.    They  build  up  a 
niche,  which  the  Scripture  fills.    At  all  times  of  his- 
tory, and  specially  in  those  primitive  times,  when* 
the  men  made  the  governments,  not  the  govern- 
ments the  men,  these  great  independent  historic 
facts  absolutely  carry  with  them  the  assumption  of 
a  leader,  a  governor,  a  legislator.     All  this  simply 

»  So  Montesquieu,  "Grandeur  et  Decadence  des  Remains,"  Chap.  I. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  257 

means  a  Moses;  and  a  Moses,  such  as  we  know 
him  from  the  Pentateuch. 

And  thus  we  are  led,  I  do  not  say  to,  but  to- 
wards, the  conclusion  that,  whatever  be  the  dispar- 
aging allegations  of  the  critics,  they  may  after  all 
according  to  likelihood  be  found  reasonable  only 
as  to  matters  of  form  or  of  detail.     It  may  still  be 
fact  that  the  substance  of  the  history  is  in  thorough 
accordance  with  the  historic  bases  that  are  laid 
for  us  in  secular  as  well  as  in  sacred  testimony. 
If  this  be  so,  then  we  have  also  to  bear  in  mind 
that  the  phenomenon,  which  we  have  before  us,  is 
one  so  peculiar  that  it  could  only  have  been  exhib- 
ited to  the  world  as  the  offspring  of  a  peculiar  gen- 
erating cause.     A  people  of  limited  numbers,  of  no 
marked  political  genius,  negative  and  stationary  as 
to  literature  and  art,  maintain  their  absolutely  sep- 
arate existence  for  near  a  thousand  years,  down  to 
the  Captivity.     They  are  placed  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood,  and  subjected  to  the  frequent  at- 
tacks, of  the  great  Eastern  monarchies,  as  well  as 
of  some  very  warlike  neighbors.     These  attacks 

17 


1 

I 


258 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


ft 

compromise  their  political  independence,  but  do 
not  prevent  it  from  being  recovered.    They  receive 
the  impress  of  a  character  so  marked,  that  not 
even  the  Captivity  can  efface  it ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  searching  trial  helps  to  give  a  harder 
and  sharper  projection  to  its  features.     It  retains 
its  solidity  and  substance  while  everything  else  is 
subjected  to  change,  and  even  such  a  great  politi- 
cal aggregation  as  the  Hittite  monarchy  becomes 
absolutely  fused  in  the  surrounding  masses.     It  re- 
tains its  obstinate  and  unconquerable  peculiarities, 
even  when  it  has  passed  under  the  harrow  of  condi- 
tions such  as  at  Babylon,  apparently  sufficient  to 
beat  down  and  destroy  the  most  obstinate  national- 
ism.   Can  it  be  denied  that  this  great  historic  fact, 
nowhere  to  be  matched,  is  in  thorough  accordance 
with,  and  almost  of  itself  compels  us  to  presuppose, 
the  existence  from  the  outset  of  an  elaborately  de- 
tailed and  firmly  compacted  system  of  laws  and  insti- 
tutions, under  which  this  peculiar  discipline  might 
subsist  and  work,  so  as  gradually  to  shape,  deter- 
mine, and  mature  the  character  of  the  people  ? 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


259 


If,  apart  from  all  questions  of  form  and  expres- 
sion, the  substance  of  the  Mosaic  law  was  given  to 
the  Israelites  on  their  settlement  in  Palestine,  such 
a  provision,  it  may  fearlessly  be  said,  was  in  full 
accordance  with  the  moral  exigency  of  the  case, 
and  with  the  laws  of  historical  probability.     If  on 
the  other  hand  there  was   no  Moses,  or  only  a 
Moses  who  left  nothing  palpable  behind  him,  and 
who  does  not  rank  among   the  lawgivers  of  the 
world ;    if  the  legislative  books  represent  only  a 
gradual  and  mythical  accretion  due  mainly  either 
to  class  interests  or  to  the  magnifying  effect  of  dis- 
tance, and  turned  to  account  by  invention  either 
interested  or  credulous,-— then  the  hypothesis  pre- 
sented to  us  is,  it  may  surely  be  contended,  in 
violent   discord   with   what,   on   principles   either 
of  Providential    government   or    of  human   good 
sense,  the  case  would    usually  be  held   to   have 
required. 

^  In  estimating  the  claim  of  the  Old  Testament  to 
a  divine  origin,  it  is  important  to  compare  the  legis- 
lation given  by  Moses  with  that  of  other  ancient 


26o 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION, 


lawgivers,  such,  for  example,  as  Solon,  who  enjoyed 
the  light  of  a  far  more  advanced  civilization.     Still, 
this  comparison,  if  it  stood  alone,  would  not  fully 
bring  out  the  reason  of  the  case ;  we  must  also 
match  the  Hebrew  intellect,  as  measured  by  knowl- 
edge,  art  and  manners,  with  the  corresponding  con- 
ditions among  the  other  nations,  whose  laws  may 
be  brought  into  the  comparison.     For  if,  with  in- 
ferior  tools   and  materials,  a  superior  work  was 
produced,  it  must  surely  be  admitted  that  such  a 
result  suggests,  even  perhaps  of  itself  requires,  the 
supposition  of  some  hidden  aid  which  rectified  the 
disproportion,  and  placed  the  means  in  a  due  rela- 
tion to  the  end.     Now,  among  the  Hebrews  of  the 
period,  following  the  Exodus  and  settlement,  there 
is  no  sign  as  yet  of  intellectual  predominance  or 
advancement;   and    that   such   a   man   as    Moses 
should  have  been  raised  up  amongst  them  is  a 
fact,  which  of  itself  suggests  and  sustains  the  idea 
of  some  altogether  special  and  peculiar  guidance  * 
exercised    by   the    Almighty    over    the    selected 
people. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  26 1 

I  cannot  but  think  that,  wherever  we  turn,  we 
seem  to  find  the  broad  and  lucid  principles  of  his- 
toric likelihood  asserting  themselves  in  favor  of  the 
substance  of  the  legislative  books,  apart  from  ques- 
tions of  detail  and  literary  form. 

In  its  great  stages,  we  are  entided  to  treat  the 
matter  of  the  narrative  books  as  history  entitled  to 
credit.     An  elaborate  organization,  with  a  visible 
head  and  a  hereditary  succession,  is,  after  a  long 
lapse  of  time,  substituted  for  a  regimen  over  Israel, 
of  which  the  mainsprings  had  been  personal  emi- 
nence and  moral  force.     It  is  represented  in  the 
Scripture,  and  it  seems  obvious,  that  the  transition 
from  this  patriarchal  republicanism  to  monarchy 
was  in  the  nature  of  a  religious  retrogression.     It 
showed  an  increasing  incapacity  to  walk  by  faith, 
and  a  craving  for  an  object  of  sight,  as  a  substitute 
for  the  Divine  Majesty  apprehended  by  spiritual 
discernment,  and  habitually  conceived   of  by  the 
people  as  the  head  of  the  civil  community.     This 
view  of  the  relative  condition  of  republican  and  of 
regal  Israel  is  confirmed  by  the  fact,  on  which  I 


262 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION, 


have   already  observed,  that  with  the  monarchy 
came  in  another  regular  organization,  that  of  the 
schools  of  the  prophets.     Prophecy,  which  for  the 
present  purpose  we   may  consider  as  preaching, 
instead  of  appearing  from  time  to  time  as  occasion 
required,  became  a  system,  with  provision  for  per- 
petual succession.     That  is  to  say,  the  people  could 
not  be  kept  up  to  the  primitive,  or  even  the  neces- 
sary, level  in  belief  and  life,  without  the  provision 
of  more  elaborate  and  direct  means  of  instruction, 
exhortation,  and  reproof,  than   had   at  first  been 
requisite. 

Notwithstanding  the  existence  of  those  means, 
and  the  singular  and  noble  energy  of  the  prophets, 
the  proofs  of  the  decline  are  noj:  less  abundant  than 
painful,  in  the  wickedness  of  most  of  the  sovereigns, 
and  in  the  almost  wholesale  and  too  constant  lapse 
of  the  Israelites  into  the  filthy  idolatry  which  was 
rooted  in  the  country.  And  again,  it  is  not  a  little 
remarkable  that  the  enumeration  by  name  of  the 
great  historic  heroes  of  faith,  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  ends  in  the  person  of  King  David  (Heb. 


THE  MOSA IC  LEGISLA  TION.  263 

1 1  :  32),  with  the  first  youth  of  the  monarchy.    The 
only  later  instances  referred  to  are  the  prophets, 
named  as  a  class,  who  stood  apart  and  alone,  and 
were  not  as  a  rule  leaders  of  the  people,  but  rather 
witnesses    in    sackcloth    against    their    iniquities. 
Compare  the  series  of  kings,  in  point  of  conduct, 
with  the  series  of  judges.     If  we  take  the  history 
from  the  Exodus  to  the  Exile  as  a  whole,  the  latter 
end  was  worse  than  the  beginning,  the  cup  of  in- 
iquity was  full;  it  had  been  filled  by  a  gradual  pro- 
cess :  and  one  of  the  marks  of  that  process  was  a 
lowering  of  the  method  in  which  the  chosen  people 
were  governed;  it  became  more  human  and  less 
divine. 

Under  these  circumstances,  does  it  not  appear 
like  a  paradox,  and  even  a  rather  wanton  paradox, 
to  refer  the  production  of  those  sacred  Mosaic 
books,  which  constituted  the  charter,  and  formed 
the  character,  of  the  Hebrews  as  a  separate  and 
peculiar  people,  to  the  epochs  of  a  lowered  and 
decaying  spiritual  life  ?  These  books,  or  the  mat- 
ter contained  in  them,  surely  formed  the  base  on 


264 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION, 


which  the  entire  structure  rested.  It  is  hardly 
possible  to  separate  the  fabric  from  its  foundation. 
Had  they  not  been  recorded  and  transmitted,  it 
would  have  been  reasonable,  perhaps  necessary,  for 
us  to  presume  their  existence.  They  could  only 
spring  from  a  plant  full  of  vigorous  life,  not  from 
one  comparatively  sickly  and  exhausted. 

Again,  we  are  taught  by  the  negative  school 
that  the  entire  portion  of  the  Pentateuch,  which 
specially  describes  the  work  of  the  Priest,  and 
which  they  term  the  Priest-Code,  is  of  late  com- 
position, probably  the  latest  of  all,  and  has  been 
devised  in  the  interest  of  the  priestly  order. 

Now  I    think   that  there   are   ready  means   of 
applying   the    touchstone   to   this   allegation.     It 
seems   the   great  aim  of  the   assailants  to  bring 
down  the  date  of  the  main  contents  of  the  legisla- 
tive books  to  the  Exile  and  the  period  which  fol- 
lows it     Now  we  have   to    remember   that   the 
schools  of  the  prophets  established  a  caste  which 
was  in  professional  rivalry  with  the  priesthood,  and 
which  presented  every  likelihood  of  being  its  effec- 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  265 

tive  censor.    We  have  the  written  and,  I  believe,  un- 
questioned  productions  of  this  school  of  prophets, 
reaching  nearly    into  the    ninth    century  (in  the 
Book  of  Amos),  above  two  hundred  years  before 
the  Exile.     The  relation  of  the  prophet  to    the 
priest,  somewhat  accentuated,  let  us  suppose,  by 
competing  interests,  was  in  certain  respects  onl  of 
superiority;  for,  while  the  priest  only  administered 
in  a  human  way  a  system  originally  of  divine  ap- 
pointment, the  prophet  believed  himself  to  speak 
under  direct  inspiration  and   command  from  the 
Most  High.     The  supposition  pressed  upon  us  is 
that,  during  the  period  when  the  books  of  the 
prophets  were  being  produced,  the  priests  foisted 
upon  the  nation  adulterated,  nay,  rather  forged, 
works,  which  they  audaciously  ascribed  to  Moses,' 
and  which  they  shaped  in  the  interests  of  the  sacer- 
dotal order.     Is  it  not  quite  plain  that,  if  this  had 
been  true,  nay,  if  it  had  been  so  much  as  an  ap- 
proach to  the  truth,  the  prophets  would,  in  the 
interests  of  righteousness  even  more  than  m  their 
own,  have  made  use  of  the  advantages  of  their  po- 


266 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION, 


sition,  and  would  have  held  up  such  a  flagrant  in- 
iquity of  the  rival  class  to  infamy  or  rebuke  ?     Yet 
they  do  nothing  of  the  sort.     And  it  is  not  even 
open   to  us  to  refer  this  to  some  hidden  cause, 
as  it  would  have  been  if  we  could  have  alleged 
that,  for  some  undeclared  reason,  it  is  their  habit 
to  pass  by  the  conduct  of  the  priests  in  silence. 
For,  on  the  contrary,  they  do  exercise  the  office  of 
reprimand  most  freely.     They  do  reprove  and  de- 
nounce neglect  of  duty  and  abuse  of  power  by  the 
priests ;  but  they  do  this  exactly  in  the  same  way 
for   the  priestly  order  and   for  their  own;    and, 
though  they  could  not  have  been  biassed  against 
their  own  schools,  there  is  no  sign  that  priests  were 
more  faulty  than  prophets.     By  way  of  specimen 
of  their  usual  manner,  I  may  quote  the  words  of 
the  prophet  Zephaniah,  who  in  the  following  pas- 
sage appears  to  administer  justice  impartially  all 
round: — 


*•  Her  princes  within  her  are  roaring  lions ;  her  judges  are 
evening  wolves ;   they  gnaw  not  the  bones  till  the  morrow. 
"Her  prophets  are  light  and  treacherous  persons:   her 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION,  267 

priests  have  polluted  the  sanctuary,  they  have  done  violence 
to  the  law  "  (Zeph.  3  :  3,  4). 

All  were  human,  all  were  alike.  There  is  no- 
where a  tittle  of  evidence  to  show  the  gross  and 
very  special  offenses  with  which  the  priesthood  are 
now  charged.  In  such  a  case  the  negative  evi- 
dence carries  positive  force.  It  is  evident,  first, 
that  the  prophets  knew  nothing  of  such  delinquen- 
cies :  and  secondly,  that,  if  they  were  unknown  to 
the  prophets  through  this  long  lapse  of  time,  it  was 
because  they  were  not  committed. 

We  have,  then,  in  the  historic  Moses,  a  great  and 
powerful  genius,  an  organizing  and  constructing 
mind.  Degenerate  ages  cannot  equip  and  fur- 
nish forth  illustrious  founders,  only  at  the  most 
the  counterfeits  or  shadows  of  them.  Moses  be- 
longs to  the  great  class  of  nation-makers ;  to  a 
class  of  men,  who  have  a  place  by  themselves  in 
the  history  of  politics,  and  who  are  among  the 
rarest  and  highest  of  the  phenomena  of  our  race. 
And  he  stands  in  historic  harmony  with  his  work. 
But  we  are  now  apparently  asked   to   sever  the 


268 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


work  from  the  worker,  and  to  refer  it  to  some 
doubtful  and  nameless  person ;  whereas  it  is  surely 
obvious  or  probable  that  the  author  of  a  work  so 
wonderful  and  so  far  beyond  example,  so  elaborate 
in  its  essential  structure,  and  so  designed  for  public 
use,  could  hardly  fail  to  associate  his  name  with  it 
as  if  written  upon  a  rock,  and  with  a  pen  of  iron. 
For,  be  it  recollected,  that  name  was  the  seal  and 
stamp  of  the  work  itself  According  to  its  own 
testimony  he  was  the  apostolos  {Exod.  19:  16-23, 
and  passim),  the  messenger,  who  brought  it  from 
God,  and  gave  it  to  the  people.  If  the  use  of  his 
name  was  a  fiction,  it  was  one  of  those  fictions 
which  cannot  escape  the  brand  of  falsehood;  for 
it  altered  essentially  the  character  of  the  writings 
to  which  it  was  attached. 

Supposing  it  to  be  granted  that  this  or  that  por- 
tion of  the  legislative  books  may  have  been  an 
addition  in  the  way  of  development,  of  an  append- 
age and  supplement  to  a  scheme  already  existing, 
how  and  why  came  it  to  be  placed  under  the  shelter 
of  the  great  name  of  Moses,  but  because  that  name 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION,  269 

had  already  acquired  and  consolidated  its  authority, 
from  its  being  inseparably  attached  to  the  original 
gift  of  the  law  ? 

Even  so  it  was  that,  when  the  great  and  wonder- 
ful poems  known  as  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  had  given 
to  the  name  of  Homer  a  surpassing  celebrity,  and 
other  works  of  less  exalted  rank  sought  for  fame 
by  claiming  him  as  their  author,  the  simple  fact 
that  they  so  claimed   him  of  itself  supplied   the 
proof  that  Homer  was  traditionally,  and  from  im- 
memorial time,  taken  to  be  the  author  of  those 
greater  works  at  the  period  when  the  lesser  ones 
were   imputed   to   him.     If  the   title   of   Mosaic 
authorship  was  ever  in  any  case  attached  to  what 
Moses  did  not  produce,  the  ascription  was  made 
in  order  to  gain  credit  for  the  new  supplemental 
matter,  and  of  itself  proved  that,  at  the  date  when 
it  was  made,  there  was  an  older  and  immemorial 
belief  in  his  being  the  author  of  the  primary  work, 
whereto  the  supplement  was  appended. 

As  we  stand  on  historical  ground  in  assuming 
that  Moses  was  a  great  man,  and  a  powerful  agent 


270  THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 

in  the  Hebrew  history,  so  we  stand  on  a  like  basis 
in  pointing  to  the  fact  that,  from  the  Captivity  on- 
wards (I  say  nothing  here  of  the  prior  period,  as  it 
would  beg  the  question),  the  Jewish  nation'  paid 
to  the  five  books  of  the  Pentateuch  a  special  and 
extraordinary  regard,  even  beyond  the  rest  of  their 
sacred  books.    These  were  known  as  the  Torah ; 
and  the  fact  of  this  special  reverence  is  one  so 
generally  acknowledged,  that  it  may  without  dis- 
cussion be  safely  assumed  as  a  point  of  departure." 
Before,  then,  any  sort  of  acceptance  or  acqui- 
escence is  accorded  to  notions  which  virtually  con- 
sign to  insignificance  the  most  ancient  of  our  sacred 
books,  let  us  well  weigh  the  fact  that  the  devout 
regard  of  the  Hebrews  for  the  Torah  took  the  form, 
at  or  very  soon  after  the  Exile,  of  an  extreme 
vigilance  on  behalf  of  these  particular  books  as 
distinct  from  all  others.    This  vigilance,  which  at 
a  later  epoch  reached  its  climax  under  the  Mas- 
soretes,  very  naturally  began,  or  greatly  advanced, 
at  the  time  when  the  nation,  or  its  leading  classes,' 
having  for  the  time  lost  their  temple  and  their 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  27 1 

visible  home,  clung  more  closely  than  ever  to  the 
written  word  in  their  sacred  books;  to  its  body 
either  more,  or  not  less,  than  to  its  spirit. 

So  early  as  in  the  days  of  Hezekiah,  there  is  said 
to  have  been  a  restorative  process  of  some  kind 
performed  upon  the  text  of  the  law,  as  well  as  upon 
the  temple  and  its  doors.  >     That  clinging  affection 
to  the  Word,  which  the  Captivity  could  not  fail  to 
stimulate   in   pious   minds,  took   effect,  after   the 
Return,  in  the  establishment  of  positive  institutions 
for  its  care;  which,  indeed,  had  become  a  neces- 
sity, in  consequence  of  the  change  in  the  spoken 
language,  unless  it  were  to  be  wholly  lost  to  the 
people.     Hence  we  have  the  Jewish  tradition  of  a 
Great  Synagogue,  founded  with  this  view.     A  guild 
of  scribes  was  appointed  to   copy,  preserve,  and 
expound  the  divine  Word,^  and  the  Canon  of  the 
Old  Testament  appears  during  the  same  period  to 
have  assumed  something  of  a  regular  form.     Soon 
grew  up  the  Massorah,  or  body  of  traditions  con- 

•  Patenon  Smyth.  ••  The  Old  Documents,"  p.  4^.    2  Chron.  29  :  3. 

«  Ibid.,  p.  66. 


272  THE  MOSAIC  LECrSLA  TION. 


cerning  the  texts  of  the  Torah,  which  is  supposed 
to  have  become  noticeable  from  about  300  b  c ' 
and   which   in   after   ages    gave   a  name  to  the 
Massoretes.  official  students  and  guardians  of  the 
text.     This  body  is   one  without   a   parallel    in 
the  history  of  the  world.  ^     Its  existence  not  only 
afforded    strong   securities    of    a    special    nature 
for  the  faithful  custody  of  the  text  from  the  date 
when  its  operations  commenced,  but  it  also  bears 
witness   to   a  profound  and   exacting  veneration 
for  the  ancient  books  as  such,  which  seems  to  pre- 
suppose as  its  root  an  unquestioning  traditional 
belief  in  their  antiquity  and  authenticity. 

The  Jews,  perhaps  exclusively  among  the  early 
peoples,  distinguished  broadly  between  the  matter 
and  the  corporeal  form  of  a  book,  between  its  soul 
and  its  body.  They  alone  conceived  the  idea  of 
using  the  material  form  of  the  words  and  letters  as 
an  instrument  for  ensuring  the  conservation  of  the 
contents.  Their  conception  was  that,  if  they  could 
secure  the  absolute  identity  of  the  manuscripts,  and 

Paterson  Smy.h,  ••  TT,e  Old  Documents."  p.  90.      .  md.,  p.  vii. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  ,-, 

reckon  up  the  actual  numbers  of  the  words  they 
contain,   and   of  the  letters   which   compose  the 
words,  then  they  would  have  rendered  change  in 
them  impossible,  and  conservation  certain.     Thus, 
for  example,  the  words  in   the  Book   of  Psalms' 
were  counted,  and  the  middle  word  of  the  book 
was  known.     The  letters  in  each  word  were  also 
counted,  and  the  middle  letter  was  known.     Rules 
for  writing,  placing,  and  arranging  were  laid  down; 
readings  were  noted  as  khetibh  and  keri;  as  what 
was  in  the  text,  and  as  what  ought  to  be  in  the  text 
but,  from  a  reverent  unwillingness  to  alter,  only 
took  its  place  upon  the  margin.    The  Hebrews 
seem  to  have  been  the  only  people  who  built  up  by 
degrees  a  regular  scientific  method  of  handling  the 
material   forms,  in  which   the  substance  of  their 
sacred  books  was  clothed;   and  this  system   had 
begun   to   grow  from   the  time  when  a   special 
reverence  is  known  to  have  been  concentrated  upon 
the  Torah. 

I  will  not  dwell  upon  the  topic  that  this  peculiar- 
ity of  handling  supplies  of  itself  a  certain  amount 

18 


274 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION, 


of  presumption  for  peculiarity  of  origin.  It  may 
have  commenced  before  the  Captivity.  It  may 
have  preceded,  and  may  in  that  case  probably  have 
been  enhanced  by,  the  division  of  the  kingdoms. 
It  must  have  been  in  great  force  when,  soon  after 
the  Captivity,  schools  of  scribes  were  entrusted 
with  the  custody  of  the  text  of  the  law  as  a  study 
apart  from  that  of  its  meaning.  Now,  in  our  time, 
we  are  asked  or  tempted  by  the  negative  criticism 
to  believe  that  all  this  reverence  for  the  books  of 
the  Pentateuch,  having  primarily  the  sense  for  its 
object,  but  so  abounding  and  overflowing  as  to 
embrace  even  the  corporeal  vehicle,  was  felt  towards 
a  set  of  books  not  substantially  genuine,  but  com- 
pounded and  made  up  by  operators,  and  these 
recent  operators,  who  may  be  mildly  called  editors, 
but  who  were  rather  clandestine  authors,  such  as 
some  might  without  ceremony  call  impostors.  Is 
this  a  probable  or  reasonable  hypothesis?  Is  it 
even  possible  that  these  books  of  recent  concoction, 
standing  by  the  side  of  some  among  the  prophetical 
books  possessing  a  much  greater  antiquity,  should 


I 


Hi 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  ^75 

'  nevertheless  have  attracted  to  themselves,  and  have 
permanently  retained,  an  exceptional  and  superla- 
tive veneration,  much  exceeding  that  paid  to  the 
oldest  among  the  books  of  the  prophets,  and  such 
as  surely  presumes  a  belief  in  the  remoteness  of 
their  date,  the  genuineness  of  their  character,  and 
their  title  to  stand  as  the  base,  both  doctrinal'  and 
historic,  of  the  entire  Hebrew  system  ? 

The  result  of  this  negative  criticism  ought  to  be 
viewed  in  its  extreme  form,  and  this  for  several 
reasons :  such  as,  that,  with  the  lapse  of  time,  it 
continually  adopts  new  negations ;  that  the  more 
conservative  of  the  latest  schools  exhibit  to  us  no 
principle,  which  separates  them  in  the  mass  from 
the  bolder  disintegration ;  and  that  what  is  now  the 
«//ww  Uu/e  of  the  system  may,  a  short  time  hence, 
appear  only  to  have  been  a  stage  on  the  way  to 
positions  as  yet  undreamt  of.     So  viewing  the  sub- 
ject, do  we  not  find  that  it  comes  to  this  :  not  merely 
that  the  Mosaic  laws  received  secondary  supple- 
ments or  amendments  from  time  to  time,  but  that 
the  entire  fabric  had  grown  up  anonymously  as 


2/6 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEG  IS  LA  TION, 


277 


well  as  recently,  and  that  it  rests  upon  no  guarantee 
whatever,  either  of  time,  or  of  place,  or  of  personal 
authority  ? 

I  have  already  endeavored  to  show  the  historic 
improbability  that  an  upstart  production  could  have 
leaped  into  an  estimation  such  as  belongs  to  a  firm 
tradition  and  a  general  credit  of  antiquity.  And 
now  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  rather  crude 
and  irregular  form  of  the  Mosaic  books  from 
Exodus  to  Deuteronomy.  Taken  as  a  whole,  they 
have  not  that  kind  of  consistency  which  belongs  to 
consecutiveness  of  the  parts,  and  which  almost 
uniformly  marks  both  historical  and  legal  docu- 
ments.^ They  mix  narrative  and  legislation ;  they 
pass  from  one  to  the  other  without  any  obvious 
reason.  They  repeat  themselves  in  a  manner  which 
seems  to  exclude  the  idea  that  they  had  undergone 

1  "As  to  this  want  of  order  (which  seems  to  me  to  favor  the  idea  of 
contemporaneity),  a  later  codifier  would  have  been  more  artificial  in 
his  arrangement  "  (Milman's  "  History  of  the  Jews,"  3d  edition,  1863). 
Writing  of  the  delivery  of  the  law,  the  learned  and  very  liberal-minded 
Dean  Milman  had  before  him  the  works  of  the  critical  school  down 
to  Bleek;  and  in  the  admirable  note    I.,  131)  from  which  I  have  just 


i 


the  careful  and  reflected  processes  of  review,  the 
comparison  of  part  with  part,  which  is  generally 
bestowed  upon  works  of  great  importance,  com- 
pleted with  comparative  leisure,  and  intended  for 
the  guidance  not  only  of  an  individual  but  of  a 
people.     They  are  even  accused  of  contradiction. 
They  appear  to  omit  adjustments,  necessary  in  the 
light  of  the  subsequent  history :  such,  for  instance, 
as  we  might  desire  to  find  between  the  sweeping 
proscription  not   only  of  image   worship,  but  of 
images  or  shapen  corporeal  forms,  in  the  Second 
Commandment,  and  the  use  actually  made  of  them 
in  the  temple,  and  in  the  singular  case  of  the  ser- 
pent destroyed  by  Hezekiah  (2  Kings  18:4).     It 
seems  not  diflficult  to  account  for  this  roughness 
and  crudeness  of  authorship  in  the  case  of  Moses, 

•m 

under  the  circumstances  of  changeful  nomad  life, 

quoted  a  few  words,  he  expresses  a  firm  and  reasoned  dissent  from  the 
negative  conclusions  as  to  the  Pentateuch  in  its  substance,  while 
he  strongly  urges  the  likelihood  of  minor  changes  in  the  text  with 
anachronism  and  inaccuracy  here  and  there  as  the  consequence.  This 
note  is  in  effect  a  succinct  but  highly  pregnant  treatise,  and  wiU  well 
repay  those  who  carefully  peruse  it. 


278 


THE  MOSAIC  LEG  IS  LA  TION, 


and  the  constant  pressure  of  anxious  executive  or 
judicial  functions,  combined  with  the  effort  of  con- 
-  structing  a  weighty  legislative  code,  which  required 
a  totally  different  attitude  of  mind.     The  life  of 
Moses,  as  it  stands  in  the  sacred  text,  must  have 
been   habitually  a   life  of  extraordinary,  uninter- 
mitted  strain,  and  one  without  remission  of  that 
strain  even  during  its  closing  period.     As  some 
anomalies  in  the  composition  of  the  Koran  may  be 
referable  to  the  circumstances  of  the  life  of  Ma- 
homet,^ so  we  may  apply  a  like  idea  to  the  config- 
uration  of  the  legislative  books.     It  is  not  difficult 
to  refer  the  anomalies  of  such  authorship  to  the  in- 
cidents of  such  a   life,  and  to  conceive  that  any 

1  See  Rodwell's  Preface   to   the   Koran   respecting  the  Suras.     A 
critic  in  the  Magazine  and  Book  Review  has  cited  against  me  the 
fourteenth  chapter  of  Esdras  2.  and  the  strange  story  it  contains  of 
the  burning  of  the  law  and  the  rewriting  of  it  by  Ezra.     This  story 
dates  at  the  earliest  from  the  time  of  C^sar.  according  to  others  from 
Domitian.     Thus  a  tale,  which  first  appears  five  centuries  after  the 
alleged  fact,  at  once  becomes  authoritative,  if  it  serves  a  purpose  of 
negation.     But  even  this  story  supports  the  argument  in  the  text,  for 
the  law  is  continuously  and  miraculously  reproduced  by  dictation  to 
a  body  of  five  scribes. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


279 


changes,  which  have  found  their  way  into  the  text, 
may  yet  have  been  such  as  to  leave  unimpaired 
what  may  be  called  the  originality,  as  well  as  the 
integrity,  of  its  character.     But  how  do  these  con- 
siderations hold,  if  we  are  to  assume  as  our  point  of 
departure  the  hypothesis  of  the  negative  extremists? 
Under  that  supposition,  the  legislative  books  were 
principally  not  adjusted  but  composed,  and  this  not 
only  in  a  manner  which  totally  falsifies  their  own 
solemn  and  often-repeated  declarations,  but  which 
supposes  something  like  hallucination  on  the  part 
of  a  people  that  could  have  accepted  such  novelties, 
and  almost  worshipped  them,  as  ancient.     In  addi- 
tion to  all  this,  they  assumed  their  existing  shape, 
so  wanting  as  to  series  and  method,  in  a  settled 
state  of  things,  in  an   old  historic  land,  with  an 
unbounded  freedom  of  manipulation,  at  any  rate 
with  no  restraint  imposed  by  respect  for  original 
form,  and  with  every  condition  in  favor  of  the  final 
editors,  which  could    favor   the   production   of  a 
thoroughly  systematic  and  orderly  work.     Does  it 
not  seem  that  if  the  preparation  and  presentation 


28o  THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 

of  the  Hebrew  code  took  place  at  the  time  and  in 
the  way  imposed  on  us  by  the  doctrine  of  the 
thorough  disintegrationist,  then  we  stand  entirely 
at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  somewhat  loose  and 
irregular  form  of  the  work  before  us  ?  And  con- 
versely do  not  the  pecuHarities  of  that  form  consti- 
tute an  objection  to  the  negative  hypothesis,  which 
it  is  an  absolute  necessity  for  its  promoters  to  get 
.  rid  of  as  best  they  can  ? 

Let  me  again  illustrate  the  case  by  referring  to 
the  Iliad.    Those  who  have  referred  that  work  to  a 
variety  of  authors  have  been  driven  to  very  subtle 
and  questionable  arguments  in   order   to   exhibit 
some  semblance  of  anomaly  in  the  text,  and  have 
always  been  allowed  to  assume  that  the  final  editors 
under  Pericles,  or  at  whatever  epoch,  wrought  with 
energy  and  purpose  to  weld  the  fragmentary  mate- 
rial into  a  seemly  whole.     Is  it  conceivable  that  an 
operation,  such  as  we  are  now  required  to  believe 
in,  could  have  been  carried  on  without  some  sense 
of  a  similar  necessity,  or  could  so  absolutely  have 
failed  in  literary  aim  and  effort  ? 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION, 


281 


I  subjoin  one  further  topic  of  the  same  class,  as 
fit  to  be  taken  into  view.     The  absence  from  the 
legislative  books  of  all  assertion  of  a  future  state, 
and  of  all  motive  derived  from  it  with  a  view  to 
conduct,  has  been  already  noticed.     The  probable 
reason  of  that  absence  from  a  code  of  laws  framed 
by  Moses  under  divine  command  or  guidance  is  a 
subject  alike   of  interest  and   obscurity.     It  has 
sometimes   occurred   to   me  as  possible  that  the 
close  connection  of  the  doctrine  with  public  reli- 
gion in  the  Egyptian  system  might  have  supplied 
a  reason   for  its   disconnection  from  the   Mosaic 
laws.*     Even  so  I  suppose  we  might,  from  other 
features  of  those  laws,  draw  proof  or  strong  pre- 
sumption that,  among  the  purposes  of  the  legisla- 
tor, there  was  included  a  determination  to  draw  a 
broad  and  deep  line,  or  even  trench  of  demarcation, 
between  the  foreign  religions  in  the  neighborhood 
and  the  religious  system  of  the  Hebrews.     The 
connection  established  by  Moses  between  conduct 

»  I  find  this  topic  is  touched  by  Bishop  Alexander  in  his  Bampton 
Lectures. 


282 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


and  earthly  retribution  or  reward  must  of  itself 
have  tended  to  repress,  if  not  the  idea  of  a  future 
state,  yet  the  expression  of  that  idea  in  public  docu- 
ments.    Especially  we  should  remember  that  the 
work  of  Moses  was  national  rather  than  theologi- 
cal or  personal.^     His  theology  is  a  means  of  con- 
serving the  nationality,  which  was  itself  a  forerun- 
ner and  a  means   of  preparation  for  the  Advent. 
It  is   enough   for   my  present  purpose,  that   the 
absence  of  the  doctrine  of  a  future  state  from  the 
work  cannot  be  held  to  discredit  the  Mosaic  author- 
ship.    But  does  not  that  absence  help  to  discredit 
the  idea  of  a  post-ExiHc  authorship  ?     Is  it  con- 
ceivable that  Hebrews,  proceeding  to  frame  their 
legislative  books,  after  the  Captivity,  and  long  after 
the  Dispersion  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  and  with  the  aid 
of  whatever  light  these  events  may  have  thrown 
upon   the  familiar  ideas  of  a  future   life   and   an 
Underworld,  as  held  both  in  the  East  and  in  Egypt, 
could  have  excluded  all  notice  of  it  from  their  sys- 
tem of  laws  ?     We  see  something  of  this  influence 

»  See  Zincke,  "  Egypt  of  the  Pharaohs  and  of  the  Khedive."  p.  202. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


2^1 


in  the  noble  passage  on  the  dead,  Wisdom  3:1-8, 
to  which  there  \s  no  parallel  in  any  of  the  pre-Exilic 
books.  If  it  was  an  influence  impossible  to  exclude 
at  the  later  date,  then  the  fact  of  the  exclusion  be- 
comes another  difficulty  in  the  way  of  our  accepting 
any  such  date  concerning  the  substance  of  the  legist 
lative  books.^ 

It  seems,  then,  that  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the 
results  of  the  negative  criticism  on  the  Pentateuch 
with  the  known  reverence  of  the  Jews  for  their 
Torah,  which  appears  absolutely  to  presuppose  a 
tradition  of  undefined  and  probably  immemorial 
age  on  its  behalf,  as  a  precondition  of  such  uni- 
versal and  undoubting  veneration.     But  if  this  be 

»  I  desire  to  limit  myself  strictly  to  the  argument  as  it  stands  in  the 
text,  and  to  leave  untouched  the  question  whether  belief  in  a  future 
state  was  more  vigorous  or  more  extended  among  the  Jews  after  the 
ExUe  than  before  it.     We  cannot  justly  infer  from  the  silence  of 
the  law.  that  the  belief  did  not  prevail  among  the  people.     It  is  in  the 
prophetic  and  didactic  books  (as  well  as  in  the  Psalms)  that  the  future 
state  .s  most  clearly,  or  perhaps  I  should  say  most  directly  indicated 
Quue  apart  from  the  evidence  of  the  Psalms.  I  conceive  that  there  is 
sufficient  evidence  from  the  Scripture  text  that  the  Hebrews  of  the 
Mosaic  and  regal  periods  believed  in  a  future  state. 


284 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


necessary  in  the  case  of  the  Jew,  how  much  more 
peremptorily  is  it  required  by  the  Samaritan  con- 
tribution  to  the  present  argument,  and  what  hght 
does  that  contribution  throw  upon  the  general 
question  ? 

It  seems  certain  that  in   mediaeval   times,  and 
until  the  seventeenth  century,  Christendom  knew 
nothing  of  a  Samaritan  testimony  to  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  Mosaic  books,  excepting  from  certain 
slight  references  in  the  works  of  the  Fathers  to 
"  the  ancient  Hebrew  according  to  the  Samaritans." 
But,  early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  a  traveller 
found,  among  the  Samaritans  of  Damascus,  a  copy 
of  the  Pentateuch  in  the  ancient  Hebrew  letters, 
and  we  are  told  that  there  are  now  about  sixteen 
of  these  manuscripts  in  the  various  European  libra- 
ries.    The  chief  one  in  existence  is  guarded  with 
sacred  care  at  Nablous,  the  ancient  Shechem,  by 
a  congregation  still  surviving  of  a  few  hundred 
Samaritans.  ^     For  questions  of  textual  accuracy, 
this  work   is   esteemed    inferior  to  the   Hebrew, 

1  See  Paterson  Smyth,  p.  ii8. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION,  285 

though  it  is  not  wholly  without  a  claim  to  more 
archaic  forms. 

The  Samaritan  Pentateuch  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  monuments    of  antiquity.      Its   testi- 
mony, of  course,  cannot  be  adduced  to  show  that 
the  books    following   the  Pentateuch    have  been 
clothed  from  a  very  ancient  date  with  the  rever- 
ence due  to  the  divine  Word;   indeed,  it  is  even 
capable  of  being  employed,  in  a  limited  measure, 
the  other  way.     But  as  respects  the  Samaritan 
Pentateuch  itself,  how  is  it  possible  to  conceive 
that  it  should  have  held  as  a  divine  work  the  su- 
preme  place  in  the  regard  of  the  Samaritans,  if, 
about  or  near  the  year  500  b.  c.,^  or,  still  more,  if 
at  the   time  of  Manasseh  the  seceder,^  it  had  as 
matter  of  fact  been  a  recent  compilation  of  their 
enemies  the  Jews  ?  or  if  it  had  been  regarded  as 
anything  less  than  a  record  of  a  great  revelation 
from    God,    historically    known,  or    at    the    least 
universally  believed,  to  have  come  down  to  them 

*  Paterson  Smyth,  p.  49. 

«  Placed  by  Wellhausen  at  about  37S   B.  C.      ••  Hist.    Israel  " 
(Black),  p.  498. 


2S6 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


in  the  shape  it  then  held  from  antiquity  ?     Be  it 
remembered  that  this  work  itself,  and  an  approxi- 
mate date  for  its   known  existence,  are  not  mat- 
ters of  mere  speculation,  but  are  accepted  results 
of  historical    research.     And  it  is  in  this  as   in 
other   cases    a    matter  for   serious   consideration, 
whether  we  can  accept  the  ingenious  conclusions 
of  some  critics  before  we  know  whether  they  are 
to  be  shattered  and  shivered  when  flung  against 
the  face  of  the  strong  rock  of  history. 

I  understand  that,  in  cases  where  the  Septuagint 
deviates  from  the  Hebrew  text,  it  very  commonly 
agrees  with  the  Samaritan.     Now  it  is  certain  that 
the  LXX.  had  access  to  manuscripts  older  than 
those  which  were  at  the  command  of  those  who 
finally  fixed  the  Hebrew  as  it  stands ;  and  it  is  to 
be  assumed  as  matter  of  course  that  in  executing 
their  translation  they  followed  the  older  copies  in 
preference  to  the  more  modern.     These  circum- 
stances of  themselves  go  far  to  prove  the  great 
antiquity  of  theTorah  of  the  Samaritans,  and  there 
seems  absolutely  nothing  to  allege  on  the  other 


THE  MOSA IC  LEGISLA  TION.  287 

Side.  So  that  it  is  no  wonder  if  among  modern 
Hebraists  there  have  been  those  who  held  this 
Pentateuch  in  higher  estimation  than  the  text  as 
it  was  received  by  the  Jews.^ 

The  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  then,  forms  in  itself 
a  remarkable  indication,  nay,  even  a  proof,  that, 
at  the  date  from  which  we  know  it  to  have  been 
received,  the  Pentateuch  was  no  novelty  for  the 
Hebrew  race.     But  may  we  not  state  the  argument 
in  broader  terms  ?     Surely  the   reverence  of  the 
Samaritans  for  the  Torah  could  not  have  begun  at 
this  period ;  nay,  hardly  could  have  had  its  first 
beginning  at  any  period  posterior  to  the  schism. 
If  these  books   grew  by  gradual   accretion,  still 
that  must  have  been  an  accretion  gathering  round 
the  work  within  a  single  channel.     A  double  pro- 
cess could  not  have  been  carried  on  in  harmony. 
Nor  can   we   easily  suppose  that,  when  the  Ten 
Tribes  separated  from  the  Two,  they  did  not  carry 
with  them  the  law,  on  which  their  competing  wor- 
ship was  to  be  founded.     In  effect,  is  there  any 

»  See  Kennicott,  Dissertation  I.,  p.  ^yj^eqq.;  II.,  p.  20  seqq. 


288 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


rational  supposition  except  that  the  kingdom  of 
Israel  had  possessed  at  the  time  of  Rehoboam 
some  code  corresponding  in  substance,  in  all  except 
pure  detail,  with  that  which  was  subsequently 
written  out  in  the  famous  manuscripts  we  now 
possess  ? 

I  have  not  attempted  in  these  essays  to  discuss 
the  general  credit  of  the  historic  books ;  yet,  in 
connection  with  the  Samaritans,  I  must  here  touch 
briefly  on  a  single  point.     The  negative  critics  are 
fairly  challenged  to  explain  to   us  how  it  is  that 
priestly  fabricators,  writing  at  a  late  date  in  the 
interest  of  their  order,  have  so  notably  abstained 
from  endeavors  to  glorify  its  virtues  and  honors, 
or  to  conceal  its  lapses  from  right.     The  charge  is 
that  fabrications  were  committed  by  priests  in  the 
interests  of  their  order :  how  then  does  it  happen 
that  these  fabrications  contain    nothing  likely  to 
promote  those  interests  ?     In  a  yet  wider  view  we 
may  ask  how  it  has  come  about  that  they  have 
entirely  avoided  attempts  to  magnify  the  religious 
responsibilities  of  the  schism  which  divided  Israel. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION,  ^^ 

It  seems  indeed  strange  that  if  these  books  were  in 

substance  framed  after  the  Exile,  and  in  times  when 

a  spirit  of  rigorous  uniformity  prevailed,  a  more 

emphatic   and   distinct  censure  should   not   have 

passed  upon  Jeroboam,  on  the  simple  ground  of 

his  having  established  a  separate  and  rival  wor- 
ship. 

The  man  of  God,  who  came  from  Judah,  did  in- 
deed testify  against  the  altar  in  Bethel ;  but  that 
altar  was  associated  with  the  golden  calf  estab- 
hshed  and  worshipped  there  (as  well  as  in  Dan)  by 
Jeroboam ;  and  the  testimony  of  the  prophet,  or 
man  of  God,  against  this  altar,  embraced  "all  the 
houses  of  the  high  places  which  are  in  the  cities  of 
Samaria,"  and  was  therefore  a  testimony  against 
Idolatry,  not  against  mere  schism  (i  Kings  12  :  28 
29,  32  ;  13  :  32).     The  special  sin  of  Jeroboam' 
wh,ch  caused  his  house  to  be  cut  off;  was  not  that' 
he  divided  Israel,  but  that  he  degraded  his  religion 
by  makmg  priests   of  the   lowest   of  the  people 
(I  Kings  13  :  ^^).     Nay,  the  books  present  to  us 
the  two  illustrious  prophets,  Elijah  and  Elisha  as 

19 


J90 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


having  Israel  for  their  field,  and  as  working  there 
not  on  behalf  of  the  Levitical  priesthood,  but  on 
behalf  of  righteousness  as  against  sin,  and  of  God 
as  against  Baal ;  in  complete  conformity  with  the 
spirit  of  the  prophetic  books,  which  so  largely  con- 
cern the  Ten  Tribes.  How  is  it  conceivable  that 
men  wicked  enough  to  forge  should  so  carefully 
have  eschewed  gathering  any  fruits  from  their 
forgery  ? 

The  references  thus  far  made  to  the  prophets 
have  been  purely  incidental  to  the  main  argument. 
But  it  seems  to  me  to  deserve  consideration, 
whether  it  is  only  by  their  predictive  faculty  that 
they  supply  us  with  a  proof  of  divine  revelation. 
Quite  apart  from  their  unfolding  the  veil  that  hid 
the  future,  does  not  their  attitude  and  their  office 
supply  a  reasonable  proof  that  they  were  raised  up 
and  inspired  by  the  Almighty?  This  question 
docs  not  refer  to  all  the  prophets.  It  does  not 
refer  to  the  false  prophets  who  deceived  Ahab 
(i  Kings  22  :  12),  nor  to  the  corrupt  members  of 
the  order,  who  are  so  freely  denounced  in  the  pro- 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


291 


phetic  books.  It  refers  properly  and  principally  to 
the  authors  of  those  books,  and  to  the  valiant  wit- 
nesses for  God  and  for  righteousness  whose  deeds 
are  otherwise  recorded  in  the  Scriptures. 

Considered  as  champions  of  the  right  against  the 
wrong,  I  do  not  suppose  that  anything  approaching 
to  a  parallel  with  them  is  to  be  found  elsewhere  in 
history.     It  is  true  that  we  find  among  the  early 
Greeks,  in   the   poems  of  Homer,  a  diaspore  or 
sprinkling  of  prophets  :  such  as  Tiresfas,  who  fore- 
tells the  future,^  and  such  as  Calchas  who,  when 
assured  of  protection  by  Achilles,  denounces  the  out- 
rage which  had  been  committed  by  Agamemnon.^ 
He  does  a  good  act,  and  a  bold  one ;  but  the  sin 
of  Agamemnon  consists  entirely  in  the  violation  of 
a  sacerdotal  immunity.     There  is  not  to  be  found 
here,  nor  in  the  Homeric  prophets  elsewhere,  nor 
in  the  heathen  oracles,  anything  that  can  properly 
be  called  a  stand  for  righteousness. 

The  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  an  order, 
are  alone  in  the  world.     They  have  been  well  called, 

*  Od.,  X.  537-540.  '  lUad,  I.  92  seqq. 


292 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION, 


by  a  clerical  writer  of  great  ability,  the  conscience 
of  the  Jewish  nation.     It  would  not  be  easy  to 
enumerate  fully  their  claims  on  our  admiration,  I 
must  add  on  our  wonder.     They  are  brave.     They 
are  honest.     They  are  pure  from  every  stain.     They 
contend  for  right  against  wrong,  never  for  wrong 
against  right.     They  fear  God,  and  have  no  respect 
of  persons.     They  are  the  friends  of  the  afflicted 
and  the  poor.     Even  upon  their  indignation,  their 
justice   is    written    broad    and    large.      They   are 
humble,  for  they  refer  all  their  lofty  utterances  to 
the  Most  High,  and  make  no  claim  to  the  glorying 
wisdom  of  this  world.     They  are  impartial,  for  they 
were  entirely  emancipated  from  the  spirit  of  class, 
and  launched  their  withering  censures  both  as  freely 
and  as  frequently  at  the  faulty  members  of  their 
own  orders,  as  at  the  kings,  the  priests,  and  the 
people.     Nor  were  these  censures  due  to  pride  or 
passion ;  for  they  yielded  their  hearts  and  faculties 
as  freely  to  the  gentle  and  touching  influences  of 
the  Spirit  in  their  commiseration  of  woe  and  in 
their  prophecies  of  a  suffering  Messiah,  as  when  He 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


293 


bade  them  sound  the  trumpet-notes  of  denunciation 
against  outrageous  wickedness. 

Let  us  close  this  portion  of  the  subject  with  a 
plea  of  a  different  order,  one  which,  admitting  prob- 
able imperfection  in  the  text,  deprecates,  as  opposed 
to  the  principles  of  sound  criticism,  any  conclusion 
therefrom  adverse  to  its  general  fidelity.  It  has 
caused  me  some  surprise  to  notice  (i)  that  some 
negative  writers  lay  considerable  stress  upon  what 
they  deem  to  be  numerical  errors  in  the  books  of 
the  Old  Testament ;  and  (2)  that,  so  far  as  I  have 
seen,  they  do  not  advert  to  the  increased  risks  of 
mistake  in  the  transmission  of  numbers  as  com- 
pared with  other  literary  matter,  whether  it  be  by 
copying,  or  by  word  of  mouth. 

The  increased  risk,  which  accompanies  all  record- 
ing of  numbers,  extends  likewise  to  enumerations, 
such  as  genealogical  or  other  recitals  of  names  in 
lists ;  subject,  however,  to  the  remark  that,  where 
metre  is  used,  inasmuch  as  it  supplies  a  framework 
for  particular  words  which  would  not  apply  to  other 
words,  the  danger  is  proportionably  less ;  and  also 


294 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION, 


that,  where  the  record  is  by  writing  and  not  by 
simple  hearing,  the  eye  has  the  opportunity  of 
traversing  again  and  again  the  names,  as  the 
mechanical  process  is  carried  on ;  and  these  names 
will  in  many  cases  stand  in  connection  with,  and  so 
be  seen  to  check,  one  another. 

Bishop  Colenso,  for  example,  lays  very  great 
stress  on  the  numbers  assigned  by  the  Old  Testa- 
ment to  the  children  of  Israel  on  their  passage 
through  the  desert,  and,  observing  on  the  practical 
difficulties  which  such  a  multitude  must  encounter 
on  a  march,  treats  the  case  as  one  which  materially 
impugns  the  general  credit  of  the  history.^ 

I  suppose  that  those  who  are  practically  conver- 
sant  with  the  movement  of  men  in  large  bodies 
may  be  much  inclined  to  follow  Colenso  in  ques- 
tioning the  statements  of  numbers,  both  at  that 
point  of  their  history,  and  in  many  other  places  of 
the  narrative.  It  is  quite  another  question  whether, 
because  errors  may  have  crept  into  the  numbers, 

iSee  Colenso  on  the  Pentateuch  and  Joshua,  Part  I.,  Chap.  XH. 
et  alibi. 


\ 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


295 


the  recitals  of  facts  generally  are  therefore  untrust- 
worthy. 

There  is  a  broad  and  clear  difference,  of  which 
note  ought  to  be  taken.     Both  in  copying  and  in 
original  composition,  as  a  general  rule,  the  structure 
of  the  sentence,  or  what  is  called  the  context,  is 
mentally  carried    onwards,  and    the   general    drift 
confines  within  narrow  limits  the  possibility  of  error 
in  the  particular  words.     Mistake  in  the  form  would 
very  commonly  betray  itself  by  inconsistency  in  the 
sense,  and  this  inconsistency  would  not  fail  to  be 
detected,  because  the  relation  between  the  parts  ot 
the  sentence  is  ordinarily  perceived  as  the  process 
is  carried  on.     But  the  relation  between  numerical 
amounts  is  not  at  once  determined  for  the  copyist 
by  the  context,  and  usually  requires  a  distinct  and 
careful  examination  by  the  arithmetical  faculty  to 
detect  it. 

I  will  give  two  practical  illustrations  of  this 
statement,  the  one  very  old  and  the  other  very 
modern;  the  one  touching  oral,  and  the  other 
written  transmission. 


296  THE  MOSAIC  LEG/SLA  TION. 

The  most  elaborate  invocation  of  the  Muse  or 
appeal  for  divine  assistance,  in  the  whole  of  'the 
poems  of  Homer,  is  the  preface  •  to  the  catalogue 
of  the  Greek  troops  and  ships;  and  this,  although 
in  no  part  of  the  poems  could  less  of  effort  properly 
poetic   be   required.     But  the   catalogue   consists 
partly  of  numerical  statements  of  the  strength  of  the 
contingents   which    made  up  the  fleet,   partly  of 
geographical  detail,  which  sets  forth  the  names  of 
towns  and  districts;  and  here  we  find  the  rationale 
of  the  poet's  call  for  special  aid  from  heaven,  and 
for  his  care  with  a  view  to  accuracy;   this,  too 
although  he  had  metre  to  assist  him. 

I  now  turn  to  very  modern  practice.     In  the  year 
I8S3.  .t  was  my  duty  for  the  first  time  to  submit  to 
Parhament  one  of  the  large  and  complex  statements 
of  the  public  accounts  for  the  year,  which  are 
associated  in  our  country  with  the  familiar  name  of 
the  Budget.     The  speeches,  in  which  these  state- 
ments were  contained,  were  habitually  made  known 
to  the  country  by  reporting  in  the  usual  manner. 

» Iliad,  II.  484-493. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  297 

But  the  art  of  the  highly  skilled  reporters   could 
not  be  trusted  to  convey  the  figures  with  accuracy 
by  the  ear.     A  practice  had  consequently  grown 
up   of  supplying   them   from    the   proper   oflficial 
source   in   carefully   written    statements   for   their 
guidance,   which   were   sent   to   them    during  the 
delivery  of  the  speech.     It  has  now  been  found 
more  convenient  not  to  trust  at  all  to  the  ear,  and 
the  Minister  is  understood  to  speak  from  printed 
figures;  but  this  in  no  way  weakens  the  illustration 
I  have  used. 

My  position  amounts  to  but  does  not  go  beyond 

tliis,  that   the  same  care   which    ensures   general 

fidelity  of  statement  in   ordinary  recitals   of  fact 

does  not  suflSce  to  secure  numerical  precision;  and 

conversely  that  the  want  of  such  precision,  which 

may  sometimes  be  suspected  in  the  Old  Testament, 

does   not  raise  presumptions  adverse  to  general 
correctness.' 

•  I  believe  the  experience  of  authors,  who  give  themselves  the 
trouble  to  make  large  use  of  numerical  references,  would  support  me 
in  declaring  that  such  references  have  a  much  higher  average  of 
printer's  errors  than  the  regular  text. 


298 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION, 


The  necessary  limits  of  this  essay  do  not  permit 
of  my  entering  on   the   contents   of  the   Mosaic 
legislation.      It    is,   I    apprehend,   both    far   more 
complex,  and  far  deeper,  than  the  other  systems  of 
ancient  law  known  to  us,  as  well  as  far  higher  in 
its  moral  aims.     I  humbly  recommend  that  those 
who  read  it  should  fix  their  minds  upon  the  skill 
with  which   it  is  addressed  to  the  attainment  of 
ends  of  such  a  nature  as  to  render  them,  in  their 
ordinary    aspects,    hardly    reconcilable  with    one 
another.      Severely  proscriptive   of  the   stranger, 
namely,  of  the  nations  whom  it  found  in  possession 
of  Canaan,  it  is  as  singularly  Hberal  and  generous 
towards  him  when  he  has  made  his  peace  with 
Hebrewism.     Again,  the  Pentateuchal  code  differs 
from  (I  believe)  all    others    in    the  extraordinary 
amount  of  its  sanitary  legislation,  and  in  investing 
rules  of  that  class  with  a  quasi-moral  character. 
The  first  impression  on  a  reader's  mind  is  probably 
a  sense  of  some  strangeness  in  this  respect.     But 
•it  soon  alters  into  a  profound  admiration  of  the 
sagacity,  which  includes  in  its  far-reaching  view 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  299 

provisions  for  giving  an  exceptionally  high  char- 
acter even  to  the  physical  constitution  of  a  people, 
that  was  meant  to  remain  socially  separate  from  the 
nations  of  the  world.     Again :  while  aiming  much 
at  equality,  simplicity,  and  industry,  as  fountains  of 
order  and  of  strength,  it  embodies  most  peculiar 
regulations  for  the  purpose  of  restraining  within 
the  narrowest  limits  both  that  growth  of  wealth, 
which  is  the  natural  fruit  of  such  qualities;   and 
also  the  spirit  of  enterprise,  which  would  have  burst 
prematurely  the  narrow  bounds  of  Palestine,  and 
destroyed  the  seclusion  of  the   chosen  people  by 
untimely  contact  with   the   nations  of  the  world. 
The  design  seemingly  was  to  repress  the  latent 
powers  of  human  nature,  and  to  secure,  until  the 
appointed  time  should  come,  a  conservative,  even 
a  stationary  community,  changeless  as  the  truths 
of  which  it  was  the  guardian.     The  completeness 
of  the  severance  was  not  impaired  by  the  Captivity 
and  Dispersion  of  Israel,  or  by  the  Exile  of  the 
Jews   in   Babylon,  or  by  the   creation   of  Jewish 
factories  abroad,  or  by  the  communication  of  their 


I 


300 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION, 


sacred  books  to  the  world,  or  by  the  final  destruc- 
tion of  the  political  independence  of  the  country, 
or  by  the  invasion  and  supremacy  of  the  Greek 
language.  The  Jew,  when  our  Lord  came,  was 
still,  and  was  even  more  than  ever,  the  Jew;  and 
so,  though  it  may  have  been  in  despite  of  himself, 
the  purpose  of  his  great  stewardship  was  accom- 
plished. 

Postscript  to  Chapter  V. 

Although  the  title  of  this  volume  does  not  pass 
beyond  the  range  of  the  sacred  volume,  there  is  a 
crowning  portion  of  the  narrative  which  has  its 
scene  laid  in  Palestine,  which  was  an  accomplished 
fact  before  some  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment were  written,  and  yet  which  does  not  appear 
within  its  Canon.  I  refer  to  the  fall  of  Jerusalem, 
the  destruction  of  the  temple,  and  the  dispersion 
of  the  Jewish  people. 

Of  the  great  and  cardinal  events,  which  had 
marked  the  history,  scarcely  even  the  deliverance 
from    Egypt   and   establishment   in    Palestine   are 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION,  301 

more  wonderful,  than   the   final   downfall   of  the 
nation  consummated  through  the  destruction  of 
its  capital.     We  have  here  presented  to  us  a  long 
chain  of  the  most  astonishing  facts.     This  nation, 
which  had  often  been  a  comparatively  easy  prey 
in  the  times  of  its  greatness,  first  to  one  neighbor 
and  then  to  another,  offered  to  the  overwhelmino- 
power  of  Rome,  after  many  generations  of  subjec- 
tion, a  resistance  such  as  was  experienced  in  no 
other  countiy  of  this  world.     Resistance  to  such  a 
power,  when  serious  and  protracted,  has  commonly 
been  the  work    of  a  united  people.     But,  at  the 
time   of  this    unexampled  conflict,   almost   every 
patriotic  town  in  Palestine  was  to  all  appearance 
hopelessly  divided  between  a  national  and  a  roman- 
izing  party ;  and  these  parties  subsisted  in  a  state 
of  chronic   civil   war.      Jerusalem   itself  was  the 
scene  of  incessant  and  bloody  conflict  among  its 
factions  during  the  years  which  preceded  the  fatal 
siege,  and  Vespasian  actually  postponed  his  march 
to  the  southward  in  the  hope  that   without  his 
active  interference  these  factions  might  sufficiently 


302 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION, 


perform  his  work.     Again,  the  Roman  policy  as  to 
the  religion  of  subject  races  was  essentially  tolerant, 
and  in  intention  mild.     It  is  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  corruption  and  oppression  merely  fiscal 
can  have  brought  about  results  in  that  particular 
quarter  so  absolutely  different  from  those  which 
were  exhibited  in  other  portions  of  the  Empire. 
And  this  supposition  is  also  excluded  by  the  fact 
that  the  men  of  rank  and  wealth,  out  of  whom 
most  treasure  could  be  wrung,  constituted  every- 
where  the   anti-national  or  Roman   party  in  the 
local    communities.      Animosity,   dominating    the 
mass   (and   this   perhaps   in   other   cities   besides 
Jerusalem),  carried  the  entire  population  into  un- 
exampled extremities  of  resistance.     Yet  it  seems 
evident  that   the    Romans  in  these   latter   stages 
acted  all  along  under  a  compulsion   imposed  by 
their  adversaries,  and  in  a  manner  alien  to  their 
own  habits  and  standing  conceptions.     Formidable 
indeed  was  the  temple,  in  its  very  idea,  as  a  focus 
of  national  feeling ;  but  Roman  liberality  had  not 
even  objected  to  the  repetition  in  miniature  of  this 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  303 

most  significant  structure  by  the  building  of  the 
temple  of  Onias  at  Alexandria.     Once  more ;  is  it 
possible  to  conceive  a  more  remarkable  example 
of  the  tolerant,  meaning  thereby  the  neutral,  spirit 
of  the  Roman  policy  in  matters  of  religion,  than  is 
exhibited  by  the  quiet   allowance  of  the  judicial 
proceedings  taken  against  our  Blessed  Saviour,  on 
the  independent  authority  of  the  high  priest  and 
the  Sanhedrim,  in  a  city  subjected  to  the  exclusive 
control  and  dominion  of  a  Roman  governor  ?    The 
difficulty  is  to  conceive  how,  under  such  a  system, 
so  exceptional  in  all  its  circumstances,  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem,  with    the   almost   equally  remarkable 
catastrophes  of  several  cities  of  the  North,  could 
be  brought  within  the  range   of  possibility.      In 
such   matters,  the   mainsprings   of  human  action 
are  religion  and  nationality.     But  nationality  had, 
among  the  Jews,  for  many  centuries  been  found 
compatible  with  subordination  to  foreign  dominion. 
Religion,  which  had  supplied  so  legitimate  and  so 
powerful  a  stimulus  at  the  epoch  of  the  Maccabees, 
when  the  temple  had  been  profaned  by  Antiochus 


304 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


Epiphanes,  could  furnish  no  cause,  and  hardly  a 
pretext,  for  hostile  activity  under  the  imperial  edict 
of  Augustus. 

It  seems  as  if,  at  the  three  great  crises  of  Jewish 
and  Hebrew  history,  the  Almighty  Wisdom  had 
determined    to    put    a    special    stamp    upon    the 
events  which   happened,  and    to    mark    them    as 
peculiarly  its  own.      We  recognize  in  Moses  the 
most  powerful  man  delineated  in  the  Hebrew  an- 
nals: one  who  both  in  thought  and  action  was  a 
mighty  force   available  for  the   deliverance  from 
Egypt.     But  how  little  had  the  people  at  that  epoch 
to  do  with  its  own  liberation  !     Again,  at  the  time 
preceding  the  Babylonish  Captivity,  the  Jews  had 
not  to  encounter  a  wild  and  savage  conqueror,  such 
as  the  East  has  often  seen,  who  shattered  all  he 
touched.     The  views  of  Nebuchadnezzar  appear  to 
have  been  politic  and  moderate.     He  had  to  en- 
counter a  determined  partisanship  of  this  people 
with  his  enemies  in  Egypt,  accompanied  with  re- 
peated breaches  of  faith.     It  was  not  at  the  first, 
but  only  at  the  second  crisis,  that  he  proceeded  to 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


305 


extremities  against  the  Jews ;  and,  all  through  the 
period,  the  counsels  of  Jeremiah  were  deliberately 
adverse  to  the  policy  of  resistance  that  was  pur- 
sued.    It  was  plain  that  Egypt  was  a  broken  reed. 
This  is  not  to  be  deemed  one  of  the  ordinary 
excesses  of  passion  or  errors  in  particular  calcula- 
tions, which  mark  the  common  page  of  history :  it 
was  an  utter  abnegation  of  all  rational  elements  in 
the  guidance  of  human  conduct,  both  adopted  and 
persisted  in,  such  as  we  occasionally  but  rarely  en- 
counter, and  such  as  when  encountered  we  prop- 
erly term  infatuation.     An  exactly  similar  course, 
but  attended  with  further  exaggerations,  marked 
the  third  of  the  great  crises  at  the  closing  period 
of  the  national  history.     We  have  no  sign  that 
religion  was  hurt  or  endangered  by  the  Roman 
supremacy.     Many  of  the  cities  did  not  actively 
join  in  the  revolt     The  state,  which  had  punished 
Verres,  would  surely  not  have  permitted  Florus  to 
endanger  the  peace  of  the  East  by  his  rapacity. 
The  long  delays  of  the  Roman  commander  in 

laying  siege  to  the  city  seem  to  find  their  most 

20 


3o6 


THE  MOSAIC  LEG  IS  LA  TION. 


rational  interpretation  in  one  supposition  only.     It 
is  the  supposition  of  his  having  believed  that  the 
majority  of  the  population  would  see  and  feel  that 
there  was  no  cause  for  proceeding  to  extremities. 
The  presence  of  Berenice,  and  her  powerful  influ- 
ence over  Titus,  were  of  themselves  a  guaranty 
that  no  reasonable  settlement  would  be  refused. 
As  in  the  time  of  Hezekiah  with  Isaiah,  and  in  the 
time  of  Zechariah  with  Jeremiah,  so  here  again  the 
wisest  and  most  trusted  counsellor  of  the  race  was 
a  firm  opponent  of  the  policy  of  resistance.    Joch- 
anan  Ben  Zakkai  was  the  man  who,  after  the  de- 
struction of  the  capital  and  dispersal  of  the  nation, 
proved  himself  equal  to  the  incredibly  difficult  task 
of  establishing  at  Jamnia  (or  Jabuz)^    what  may 
be  properly  termed  the. new  Judaism,  the  Judaism 
which  had  just  been  dislodged  from  a  sanctuary 
held  through  fifteen  centuries:  the  Judaism  which 
no  longer  had  a  home,  or  a  sacrifice,  or  a  priest. 
Probably  Jochanan  saw  that  there  was  nothing  in 
the  supremacy  of  Rome  to  prevent  the  continued 

»  Graetz :  "  History  of  the  Jews."  Vol.  II..  Ch.  XIII. 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION.  307 

existence  of  such  a  Judaism  as  wCuld  be  available 
for  all  the  purposes  of  religion ;   a  Judaism  local, 
historical,  and  visible,  shorn  in  fact  of  nothing  ex- 
cept the  political  domination  which  it  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  enjoyed  in  anything  like  fulness 
since  the  time  of  Solomon.      Such  was  the  man 
who  stood  before  the  people  as  the  counsellor  of 
peace  before  the  fall  of  the  city.     But  in  spite  of 
all  this,  the    unhappy  population  of  the   capital 
rushed  upon  its  ruin,  even  like  that  herd  of  swine 
which  ran  headlong  down  the  steep  place  into  the 
waters  of  Gennesaret,  and  perished. 

In  reviewing  the  detail  of  this  astonishing  case, 
we  may  well  say  there  have  been  parallels,  real 
though  rare,  scattered  over  the  pages  of  history, 
to  the  indomitable  courage  of  the  Jews;  there  are 
none  to  their  incurable  fanaticism.     A  doom  had 
been  spoken,  though   spoken   in  sadness,  by  the 
Saviour  of  the  world :  and  that  doom  behoved  to 
be   fulfilled,  and  fulfilled  by  the  free,  but  incredi- 
bly misguided,  agency  of  the   sufferers.    Without 
doubt,  the  power  of  nationality  as  an  element  of 


3o8 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION. 


public   and  common   life  had  been  raised  by  all 
the  incidents  of  the  Maccab^an   struggle    to  an 
extraordinary  height.     But  that  heroic  history  lay 
far   in  the    distance  of  the  past.     A  courtly,  or 
Herodian,  system  had  long  been  dominant.     Two 
centuries  and  a  half  had  passed  away.     For  a  large 
portion  of  this  time  they  had  lived  under  Roman 
dominion,  which  gave  to  the  Jew  unstintedly  the 
advantages  of  a  world-wide  citizenship,  and  har- 
bored  him,  sometimes  even  with  favor,  in  the  cap- 
ital of  the  Empire.    It  seems  impossible  to  account 
for  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  disper- 
sion  of  the  nation  on  the  common  principles  of 
human  action.      After  every  effort  to   escape,  we 
are  driven  to  acknowledge  the  signal  tribute  which 
the  excess  of  human  error  rendered  to  the  effi- 
cacy of  divine  wisdom.     If  the  second  causes  which 
brought  about  the  destruction  of  the  capital,  and 
the  dispersion  of  the  race,  were  marked  by  the 
most  singular  and  abnormal  character,  the  predic- 
tion of  our  Lord  was  a  prediction  not  founded  on 
the  Hkelihoods  of  ordinary  policy,  but  on  a  most 


THE  MOSA IC  LEGISLA  TION,  309 

remarkable  departure  from  them :  and  the  catas- 
trophe itself,  in  connection  with  that  disclosure 
which  his  wonderful  foreknowledge  had  imparted 
to  the  world,  sums  up  the  long  chapter  of  rational 
evidences  of  a  divine  revelation  which  we  derive 
from  the  history,  so  studded  with  vicissitude,  of 
the  children  of  Abraham. 

Thus,  the  prophetic  power  of  the  Saviour,  and ' 
the  effectual  action  of  divine  Providence  wrought 
out  through  the  agency  of  causes  altogether  un- 
usual, are  ahke  exhibited  with  conclusive  force  in 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  But  even  this  is  not  all. 
The  destruction  of  the  temple  with  the  city,  and 
the  dispersion  of  the  nation,  belong  essentially  to 
the  subject  of  this  work.  For  through  these  events 
was  fulfilled  the  original  promise  to  Abraham,  that 
in  him  should  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be 
blessed  :  and  it  is  hard  to  see  how  without  them 
that  fulfilment  could  had  been  brought  about. 

It  would  be  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  so 
long  as  the  temple-worship  lasted,  and  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  Mosaic  system  were  acknowledged,  the 


3IO 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLATION. 


new  scheme  of  the  kingdom  of  God  could  not  be 
developed,  the  Church  could  not  become  a  city  set 
upon  a  hill;   and,  as  Christianity  seemed  to  be  in 
some  sense  a  form  of  Judaism,  the  call  to  the  na- 
tions to  repent  and  be  converted  could  hardly  be 
made  intelligible.     The  tendencies  exhibited  in  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul  respectively,  so  menacing  in 
themselves  to  the  infant  religion,  would  in  all  like- 
lihood have  continued  to  embarrass  and  to  mar 
the  promulgation  of  the  Gospel  by  confusing  the 
utterance  of  its  preachers.     And  it  is  not  to  be 
forgotten  that  St.  Paul  himself,  the  champion  of  the 
larger  system,  did  not  exempt  himself  from  the 
obligations  of  the  law.     It  was  plainly  essential  to 
the  infant    scheme    that    an   effectual   continuity 
should  be  established  between  the  Apostles,  who 
were  a  body  of  Hebrews,  and  those  Gentiles  who 
were  to  take  up  and  carry  forward  their  commis- 
sion.    Was  it  not  equally  necessary,  or  at  least 
important  in  a  degree  to  which  we  can  hardly  as- 
sign limits,  that  the  original  teachers  themselves 
should  receive  their  emancipation,  at  least  in  the 


THE  MOSAIC  LEGISLA  TION, 


311 


persons  of  some  among  them,  through  the  great 
catastrophe?  That  catastrophe  effaced  the  out- 
worn stamp,  and  left  the  title-page  in  the  exclusive 
possession  of  the  new  covenant.^ 

1  This  book  does  not  rise  to  the  character  of  a  history;  and  the 
narratives  on  which  it  may  occasionally  have  touched  are  sufficiently 
femiliar  from  the  pages  of  the  Bible.  In  the  section,  however,  which 
here  closes,  the  case  is  different.  But  I  have  not  felt  justified  in  en- 
tering upon  the  amount  of  detail  which  a  regular  statement  of  the 
facts  would  have  required.  It  is  probably  enough  to  refer  to  any  of 
the  well-known  works  on  the  History  of  the  Jews,  such  as  that  of 
Dean  Milman  (Murray),  or  the  edition  of  Graetz,  recently  pub- 
lished in  English  by  Mr.  Nutt. 


VI. 

ON  THE  RECENT  CORROBORATIONS  OF 

SCRIPTURE  FROM  THE  REGIONS  OF 

HISTORY  AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE 

I.  preliminary;  ,1.  AS  TO  THE  CREATION  STORY- 
"I.  AS  TO  THE  FLOOD  STORY;  ,v.  AS  TO  THE 
GREAT  dispersion;  V.  AS  TO  THE  SINAITIC 
JOURNEY. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  many  of  the  favorite 
subjects  of  scientific  or  systematic  thought  in  the 
present  day  are  of  a  nature  powerfully  tending  to 
reinforce  or  illustrate  the  arguments  available  for 
the  proof  of  religion,  and  for  the  authority  of  Scrip- 
ture.   If  it  had  been  actually  proved,  as  it  is  largely 
argued  and  seriously  held,  that  the  vast  and  diver- 
sified scheme  of  organic  life  throughout  the  world 
has  been  evolved  from  a  few  simple  types  or  pos- 
sibly from  one,  such  a  demonstration  would  both 
312 


CORROBORA  TIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.     3 1 3 

enlarge  and  confirm  the  great  argument  of  design. 
For  this  argument,  instead  of  being  drawn  from 
particular  and  separate  constructions,  would  then 
be  derived  from  the  entire  scheme  of  creation,  and 
from  the  relation  of  all  its  parts  to  one  another, 
inasmuch  as  every  earlier  portion  of  it  would  be  an 
indication,  and  therefore  a  mute  prediction,  of  all 
those  which  were  to  succeed;  the  seed  of  a  lono- 
series  of  harvests  to  come.     "Day  unto  day  utter- 
eth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  showeth  knowl- 
edge" (Psa.  19  :  2). 

Again,  the  formal  treatment  in  recent  years  of 
the  subject  of  heredity  not  only  tends  to  link  the 
generations  of  mankind   in   one,  but,  in  proving 
that  our  nature  undergoes   incessant  modification 
through  the  influence  of  progenitors,  enlarges  our 
conception  of  the  width  of  its  range,  and  the  varie- 
ties of  those  forms  which  it  is  capable  of  assuming. 
It  shows  us,  for  example,  how  the  nature,  as  well 
as  the  environment,  of  descendants,  is  deteriorated 
by  the  fault  of  ancestors,  and  how  there  may  have 
been  an  education  of  the  race  from  childhood  to 


V 


3H 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


maturity,  or  (upon  the  same  basis  of  reasoning) 
some  converse  process  of  decay.  Thus  the  doc- 
trine of  birth-sin,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  is  sim- 
ply the  recognition  of  the  hereditary  disorder  and 
degeneracy  of  our  nature;  and,  of  all  men,  the 
evolutionist  would  find  it  most  difficult  to  estabHsh 
a  title  to  object  to  it  in  principle. 

On  these  grounds,  and  on  others  more  specific 
which  it  will  be  the  aim  of  this  chapter  to  set  forth 
in  given  instances,  we  should  dispel  wholly  from 
our  minds  those  spectral  notions  of  some  broad 
antagonism  between  religion  and  science,  which 
have  been  raised  up  by  the  action  of  prejudice  on 
the  one  side,  and  perhaps  by  the  occasional  prac- 
tice of  bragging  on  the  other.  Of  religion  and 
of  science,  as  of  man  and  wife,  let  us  boldly  say, 
"What  God  hath  joined,  let  not  man  put  asunder." 
But  I  proceed  to  particular  illustrations. 

II. — AS  TO   THE   CREATION   STORY. 

A  double  confirmation  has,  I  conceive,  in  our 
time  been  supplied  to  the  Creation  Story  of  Genesis ; 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 


315 


the  first  by  natural,  and   the   second  by  historic 
science. 

Perhaps  we  have  been  too  readily  satisfied  with 
assuming,  in  regard  to  this  narrative,  a  defensive 
position ;  whereas  it  may  be  found  to  contain  within 
its  own  brief  compass,  when  rightly  considered,  the 
guarantee  of  a  divine  communication  to  man,  strictly 
corresponding  with  what  in  familiar  speech  is  termed 
revelation. 

We  have  here  in  outline  a  primordial  history  of 
the  planet  which  we  inhabit,  and  of  the  celestial 
system  to  which  it  belongs.     Of  the  planet,  and  of 
the  first  appearance  and  early  developments  of  life 
upon  it,  anterior  to  the  creation  of  man,  in  many  of 
the  principal  stages  which  have  been  ascertained  by 
geology.     Of  the  celestial  organization  to  which 
our  earth  belongs,  whether  in  all  its  vastness  or 
only  within  the  limits  of  the  solar  system,  we  may 
be  unable  to  say;  but,  at  the  least,  a  sketch  of  the 
formation  of  that  system,  or  of  our  special  portion 
of  it,  from  a  prior  and  unadjusted  or  chaotic  state. 
Upon  such  a  document  a  sharp  issue  is  at  once 


RECENT  CORROBORA  TIONS 

raised,  at  least  as  to  the  latter  or  strictly  terrestrial 
part  of  %  tlie  earth-history,  for  all  those  who  hold 
it  to  be  in  its  substance  a  true  account.    We  accept 
from  science,  as  demonstrated,  a  series  of  geologi- 
cal conclusions.     We  have  found  the  geology  of 
Genesis  to  stand  in  such  a  relation  to  these  conclu- 
sions, as  could  not  have  been  exhibited  in  a  record 
framed  by  faculties  merely  human,  at  any  date  to 
which  the  origin  of  the  Creation  Story  can  now 
reasonably  be  referred.     Starting  from  this  premise, 
we  have  no  means  of  avoiding  or  holding  back  from 
the  conclusion  that  the  materials  of  the  story  could 
not  have  been  had  without  preterhuman  aid ;  and 
such  preterhuman  aid  is  what  we  term  divine  reve- 
lation.    And  if  the  time  shall  ever  come,  when 
astronomers  shall  be  in  a  condition  to  apply  to  the 
earlier  portion  of  the  chapter  the  demonstrative 
methods,  which  geology  has  found  for  the  latter 
part,  it   may  happen   that  we   shall  owe  a  debt 
of  the  same  kind,  and  of  as  great  amount,  to  as- 
tronomy, as  we  now  owe  to  geologic  science.    My 
present  purpose  is  to  call  particular  attention  to 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 


317 


the   exact   nature   and   extraordinary  amount  of 
that  debt. 

There  was  nothing  necessarily  unreasonable  in 
accepting  as  worthy  of  belief  this  portion  of  the 
Book  of  Genesis,  along  with  the  rest  of  the  Book, 
and  with  other  books  of  Holy  Scripture,  on  general 
proofs  of  their  inspiration,  if  sufficient,  apart  from 
any  independent  buttress  furnished,  either  by  science 
or  by  history,  for  the  Creation  Story.  In  a  court 
of  justice,  the  evidence  of  a  witness  is  to  be  accepted 
on  matters  within  his  cognizance,  when  it  is  con- 
sistent with  itself,  and  when  neither  his  character 
nor  his  intelligence  are  questioned ;  or  again,  when 
the  main  part  of  a  continuous  narrative  is  suffi- 
ciently verified,  it  may  sometimes  be  right  to  accept 
the  rest  without  separate  verification.  If,  however, 
a  new  witness  comes  into  court,  and  pretends  to  give 
us  fresh  and  scientific  proof  of  the  Creation  Story, 
this  may  be  true  or  may  be  false.  If  false,  the  story 
is  not  disproved ;  it  stands  where  it  stood  before. 
Bad  arguments  are  often  made  for  a  good  cause. 
But  if  true,  the  event  is  one  of  vast  importance. 


3l8  RECENT  CORROBORA TIONS 

Now  the  present  position  is  as  follows.     Apart 
altogether  from  faith,  and  from  the  general  evi- 
dences of  revelation,  a  new  witness  has  come  into 
the  court,  in  the  shape  of  natural  science.     She 
builds  up  her  system  on  the  observation  of  facts, 
and  upon  inferences  from  them,  which  at  length 
attain  to  a  completeness  and  security  such  as  if 
not  presenting  us  with  a  demonstration  in  the  strict- 
est sense,  yet  constrain  us,  as  intelligent  beings, 
and  by  the  general  laws  of  reasoning,  to  belief 

The  Creation  Story  divides  itself  into  the  cos- 
mological   portion,    occupying   (mainly)   the   first 
nmeteen  verses  of  the  chapter,  and  the  geological 
portion,  which  is  given  in  the  last  twelve.     The 
former  part  has  less,  and  the  latter  part  has  more  to 
do  with  the  direct  evidence  of  fact,  and  the  strin- 
gency of  the  authority  which  the  two  may  severally 
claim  varies  accordingly;  but  in  both  the  narrative 
seems  to  demand,  upon  the  evidence  as  it  stands 
rational  assent.     In  regard  to  both,  it  is  held  on 
the  affirmative  side  that  the  statements  of  Genesis 
have  a  certain  relation  both  to  the  ascertained  facts 


OF  SCRIPTURE, 


319 


and  to  the  best  accepted  reasonings ;  and  that  this 
relation  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  require  us,  in  the 
character  of  rational  investigators,  to  acknowledge 
in  the  written  record  the  presence  of  elements  such 
as  must  be  referred  to  a  superhuman  origin.  If 
this  be  so,  then  be  it  observed  that  natural  science  is 
now  rendering  a  new  and  enormous  service  to  the 
great  cause  of  belief  in  the  unseen ;  and  is  under- 
pinning, so  to  speak,  the  structure  of  that  divine 
revelation,  which  was  contained  in  the  Book  of 
Genesis,  by  a  new  and  solid  pillar,  built  up,  on  a 
foundation  of  its  own,  from  beneath. 

It  is,  then,  to  be  borne  in  mind  that,  as  against 
those  who  by  arbitrary  or  irrational  interpretation, 
place  Genesis  and  science  at  essential  variance,  our 
position  is  not  one  merely  defensive.  We  are  not 
mere  reconcilers,  as  some  call  us,  searching  out  ex- 
pedients to  escape  a  difficulty,  to  repel  an  assault. 
We  carry  the  war,  or  rather  the  argument,  into  the 
camp  of  the  adversary.  We  seek  to  show,  and  we 
may  claim  to  have  shown,  that  the  account  re- 
corded in  the  Creation  Story  for  the  instruction  of 


3 1 8  RECENT  CORROBORA  TIONS 

Now  the  present  position  is  as  follows.     Apart 
altogether  from  faith,  and  from  the  general   evi- 
dences of  revelation,  a  new  witness  has  come  into 
the  court,  in  the  shape  of  natural  science.     She 
builds  up  her  system  on  the  observation  of  facts 
and  upon  inferences  from  them,  which  at  length 
attain  to  a  completeness  and  security  such  as  if 
not  presenting  us  with  a  demonstration  in  the  strict- 
est sense,  yet  constrain  us,  as  intelligent  beings 
and  by  the  general  laws  of  reasoning,  to  belief 

The  Creation  Story  divides  itself  into  the  cos- 
mological   portion,    occupying   (mainly)   the   first 
nmeteen  verses  of  the  chapter,  and  the  geological 
portion,  whfch  is  given   in  the  last  twelve.     The 
former  part  has  less,  and  the  latter  part  has  more  to 
do  with  the  direct  evidence  of  fact,  and  the  strin- 
gency of  the  authority  which  the  two  may  severally 
claim  varies  accordingly;  but  in  both  the  narrative 
seems  to  demand,  upon  the  evidence  as  it  stands 
rational  assent.     In  regard  to  both,  it  is  held  on 
the  affirmative  side  that  the  statements  of  Genesis 
have  a  certain  relation  both  to  the  ascertained  facts 


OF  SCRIPTURE, 


319 


and  to  the  best  accepted  reasonings ;  and  that  this 
relation  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  require  us,  in  the 
character  of  rational  investigators,  to  acknowledge 
in  the  written  record  the  presence  of  elements  such 
as  must  be  referred  to  a  superhuman  origin.  If 
this  be  so,  then  be  it  observed  that  natural  science  is 
now  rendering  a  new  and  enormous  service  to  the 
great  cause  of  belief  in  the  unseen ;  and  is  under- 
pinning, so  to  speak,  the  structure  of  that  divine 
revelation,  which  was  contained  in  the  Book  of 
Genesis,  by  a  new  and  solid  pillar,  built  up,  on  a 
foundation  of  its  own,  from  beneath. 

It  is,  then,  to  be  borne  in  mind  that,  as  against 
those  who  by  arbitrary  or  irrational  interpretation, 
place  Genesis  and  science  at  essential  variance,  our 
position  is  not  one  merely  defensive.  We  are  not 
mere  reconcilers,  as  some  call  us,  searching  out  ex- 
pedients to  escape  a  difficulty,  to  repel  an  assault. 
We  carry  the  war,  or  rather  the  argument,  into  the 
camp  of  the  adversary.  We  seek  to  show,  and  we 
may  claim  to  have  shown,  that  the  account  re- 
corded in  the  Creation  Story  for  the  instruction  of 


320 


DECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


all  ages  has  been  framed  on  the  principles  which, 
for  such  an  account,  reason  recommends ;  and  that, 
interpreted  in  this  view,  its  entry  into  the  argument 
is  at  this  juncture  like  the  arrival  of  a  new  auxiliary 
army  in  the  field  while  the  battle  is  in  progress  ; 
like  the  arrival,  to  choose  a  historical  instance,  of 
the  Prussians  at  Waterloo. 

Such  is  the  confirmatory  argument  founded  upon 
the  contents.     But  now,  yet  another  ally  has  come 
to  join  our  ranks,  under  the  title  of  archaeologic  and 
historic  science.     It  has  deciphered  the  cuneiform 
inscriptions,  and  has  read  among  them  a  Creation 
Story  inscribed  on   the  tablets  found  at  Nineveh. 
Here  we  have  a  new  witness  to  the  very  early 
existence,  among  civilized  or  partly  civilized  men, 
of  records  of  creation  corresponding  in  very  essen- 
tial particulars  with  the  Hebrew  narrative.     Such 
a  witness  plainly  to  some  extent  offers  to  it  con- 
firmation ;  but  also  stands  in  competition  with  it. 
The  competition  is  in  those  particulars  where  the 
accounts  are  not  in  harmony.     As  to  these,  stand- 
ing on  the  character  of  its   contents,  the  Hebrew 


II 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 

tradition  lays  claim  to  superior  antiquity  and  au- 
thority. But  in  proving  the  vast  antiquity  of  cer- 
tain fundamental  ideas,  the  two  are  concurrent,  and 
not  competitive. 

The  Babylonian  Creation  Story  is  given  by  Mr 
Smith  in  his  "Assyrian  Discoveries.'-  so  far  as  its 
niultilated  state  permits.     It  runs  as  follows,  and  we 
cannot.  I  think,  but  cherish  the  hope  that  it  may 
hereafter  receive  extension  or  elucidation.    "  When 
the  gods  in  their  assembly  made  the  universe,  there 
was  confusion,  and  the  gods  sent  out  the  spirit  of 
life.     They  then  create  the  beast  of  the  field  the 
animal  of  the  field,  and  the  reptile  or  the  creeping 
thing  of  the  field,  and  fix  in  them  the  spirit  of  life. 
Next  comes  the  creation  of  domestic  animals,  and 
the  creeping  things  of  the  city."     Here  we  have,  r, 
creation  by  the  gods ;  2,  chaos ;  3,  life,  and  only  by 
mference.  order;  4.  wide  extension  of  this  life  in 
beasts  and  reptiles;  5,  after  this  the  domesticated 
animals.    Thus  there  is  before  us  a  real,  though 
rude  and  imperfect,  structural  resemblance  to  the 

'  Page  397. 
21 


322 


RECENT  CORROBORA  TIONS 


Hebrew  narrative,  together  with  the  lowering  in- 
terpolation of  polytheism. 

From  the  works  of  Schrader^  on  the  cuneiform  in- 
scriptions, some  further  particulars  maybe  gathered. 
He  observes  that  in  Berosus,  as  in  Genesis,  we  be- 
gin with  water  and  darkness.     On  which  I  would 
only  observe  that  Berosus,  who  wrote  in  Greek, 
may  not  improbably  have  known  the  Mosaic  writ- 
ings ;2  and,  as  I  have  already  stated,  that  water,  in 
the  text   of  Genesis,  may  be  equivalent  to  fluid. 
The  marked  points  of  correspondence  appear  to  be 
these:  that  the  heavenly  bodies  are  created  after 
the  heavens,  which  last  expression,  I  presume,  may 
be   meant  to   include  the  light.     That  the  land 
population  follows  that  of  the  water,  and  appears 
when   vegetation   has   already  begun.      That   the 
•monuments   name  a   Babylonian  week,  with  the 
seventh  day  as  a  day  of  consecration,  called  also 
an  evil  day,^  perhaps  because  evil  for  any  work 
done  on  it.     The  inscription  says — 

1  Schrader.  "  The  Cuneifomi  Inscriptions  and  the  Old  Testament." 
Translated  by  Whitehouse.     Vol.  I.,  p.  4  seqq, 

«  Smith,  Biogr.  Diet.  3  Schrader,  p.  19. 


OF  SCRIPTURE,  ,^, 

"  To  redeem  them,  created  mankind 
The  merciful  one,  in  whom  is  the  power 
that  summons  to  life  " 

which  is  faintly  comparable  with  the  words  of  Gen- 
esis 2:7,  and  the  Jehovistic  account,  ^'and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life."  What  seems 
to  disappear  from  the  Babylonian  account  is  that 
evident  intention  of  series  and  orderly  development, 
or  evolution,  which  is  so  wonderful  a  feature  in  thJ 
Mosaic  narrative. 

Dawson,  in  a  recent  work,  observes  that  the  poly- 
theistic element  is  the  distinctive   feature  of  the 
Chaldean  record;   and  that  the  originals  of  the 
tablets  from  Nineveh  may  have  been  very  ancient, 
but  that  they  are  so  mixed  up  with  the  history  of 
the  Chaldean  hero,  named  Izdubar,  as  to  suggest 
that  there  may  have  existed  before  it  still  older 
Creation  legends.     He  compares  this  record  with 
the  corresponding  account  in  Genesis,  which  is  as 
broadly  marked  with  the  idea  of  the  divine  unity 
as  the  Chaldean  legend  is  pervaded  by  the  concep- 
tion of  polytheism.    And  he  adds,  "  Is  it  not  likely 


324 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


that  the  simpler  bdief  is  older  than  the  more  com- 
plex; that  which  required  no  priests,  ritual,  or 
temple,  older  than  that  with  which  all  these  things 
were  necessarily  associated  ?  "  He  naturally  assigns 
a  marked  superiority  to  the  ''Hebrew  Genesis."^ 
In  truth,  that  superiority  seems  to  be  not  great 
only,  but  immeasurable. 

In  one  point  only  do  the  tablets  carry  us  beyond 
the  narrative  of  Genesis ;    they  record  the  great 
struggle  of  Deity  with  rebellion,  the  war  in  heaven 
between  Merodach   and  Tiamat.     But,  upon   the 
whole,  our  Bible  narrative  is  a  regular  structure;  it 
is  orderly,  progressive,  and  rational;  that  of  the 
tablets  is  dark  and  confused.     This  may,  however, 
be  referable  in  part  to  the  imperfection  of  the  tab- 
lets, the  third  of  which,  Mr.  Sayce  thinks,  may 
probably  have   recounted    the   formation   of  the 
earth.2     However  this  may  be,  the  one  account  is 
charged  in  a  marvellous  way  with  instruction  and 
moral  purpose;  from  the  other  they  have  almost 

*  •'  Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands."  p.  3a. 
*  *•  Hibbert  Lectures,"  p.  394. 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 


32s 


disappeared.     The   first  has,  as  we  believe,  been 
receiving  marked  confirmation  in  the  most  vital 
particulars  from  cosmic  and  geologic  science;  on 
the  second  they  can  hardly  be  said  to  cast  more 
than  the  faintest  light.    And  yet  this  inferior  docu- 
ment is  itself  of  very  great  confirmatory  value;  for 
the  Izdubar  legends,  says  Mr.  Smith,^  appear  to 
have  been  composed  more  than  2000  years  b.  c. 
There  is  no  late  date  to  which  the  Mosaic  narrative 
can  with  a  shadow  of  probability  be  referred.     It 
could  not  have  been  formed  without  a  miracle  from 
the  tablets  as  they  stand.     The  two  are  evidently 
accounts  proceeding  from  a  common  source,  but  de- 
rived through  channels,  partly  or  wholly  indepen- 
dent.   The  one  comes  through  a  powerful  and  civil- 
ized empire,  the  other  through  an  obscure  nomad 
family.     In  the  relative  superiority  of  the  Mosaic 
narrative,  all  the  rules  of  merely  human  likelihoods 
are  reversed;  and  the  presumption  of  a  divine  illu- 
mination is  proportionably  augmented.    But  the  un- 
suspected antiquity  of  the  inferior  legend  attests  by 

*  "Assyrian  Discoveries,"  p.  166. 


326 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


an  independent  witness,  if  not  the  truth,  yet  at  least 
the  presumable  origin,  of  its  transcendent  rival. 

So  far  as  scientific  opinion  is  concerned,  another 
remarkable  confirmation  seems  to  have  been  given 
to  the  cosmical  portion  of  the  Creation  Story  in 
Genesis  by  the  course  which  it  has  taken  of  late 
years.     Writing  in   1839,  Dr.  Whewell  devoted  a 
chapter  of  his  "  Bridgewater  Treatise  on  Astronomy 
and  Physics  "1  to  the  Nebular  or,  as   it  is  often 
called.  Rotatory  Hypothesis.     He  described  it  in 
outline,  as  it  had  been  conceived  by  Laplace.     The 
idea   of  it  was   that  the  mass,  which  eventually 
centred   in   tlie   sun,  had  revolved  in  a  state  of 
excessive  heat;   that,  as  it  gradually  cooled,  the 
rapidity  of  the  motion  was  increased;  that,  as  the 
centrifugal  force  thus  grew,  the  mass  detached  from 
itself  exterior  zones  or  rings  of  gas  or  vapor,  which 
most  commonly  broke  up  into  several  minor  masses, 
and  so  gradually  formed  the  planetary  system.    Dr. 
Whewell's  object  in  this  early  notice  of  a  subject, 
which  has  since  attracted,  I  believe,  very  general 

»  Chapter  VII.,  p.  181. 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 


1^7 


attention  in  the  world  of  astronomical  science,  was 
to  sustain  and  illustrate  his  general  argument,  by 
showing  how  this  theory  did  nothing  whatever  to 
explain  the  origin  of  the  system,  or  to  weaken  the 
statement  of  Newton,  that  its  admirable  arrange- 
ment must  be  "the  work  of  an  intelligent  and  most 
powerful  being."  The  origin  of  this  rotation,  said 
Dr.  Whewell,  remains  unexplained,  and  still  as 
powerfully  as  ever  cries  aloud  for,  and  proclaims  an 
Author.  My  purpose  in  here  naming  the  subject 
is  to  point  out  that  Dr.  Whewell  then  found  himself 
dealing  with  a  theory  which  had  not  yet  obtained 
any  wide  currency  or  authority,  and  he  then  "  left 
to  other  persons  and  to  future  ages  to  decide  upon 
the  merits  of  the  nebular  hypothesis."^  But,  during 
the  half-century  which  has  elapsed  since  he  pro- 
duced his  treatise,  the  hypothesis  is  understood  to 
have  gained  very  general,  if  not  indeed  unanimous, 
acceptance  from  astronomers.  I  refer  to  this  result 
of  the  most  modern  studies  as  a  new  and  remarkable 
establishment  of  accord  between  natural  science  on 

1  Page  190. 


32S 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


the  one  hand  (so  far  as  its  reasonings  have  pro- 
ceeded) and  the  Book  of  Genesis  on  the  other. 
Often  has  it  been  endeavored  to  place  the  Mosaic 
geology  in  conflict  with  ascertained  results,  but 
less,  though  even  here  something,  of  the  same  kind 
has  been  attempted,  so  far  as  I  know,  by  persons 
of  scientific  authority,  with  regard  to  the  cosmogony 
which  occupies  the  earlier  portion  of  the  chapter. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  has  been  shown,  with  what 
seems  to  me  conclusive  clearness,  that,  without  the 
use  of  scientific  language,  that  very  process  has 
been  described  in  slight  outline,  but  in  singular 
correspondence  with  the  hypothesis  now  so  largely 
accepted.      Such  a   hypothesis    may   not  indeed 
have  reached  the  point  of  demonstration,  and  this 
the  subject-matter  itself  may  be  found  not  to  per- 
mit;  yet  it  has  attained  to  so  much  of  authority 
from  consent  that  Dr.  Whewell,  were  he  writing 
now,  would  not  have  had  simply  to  hand  it  over 
to  the  future  for  consideration,  but  would  more 
probably  have  declared  that  it  holds  the  field,  and 
seems  little  likely  to  be  displaced  from  it. 


OF  SCRIPTURE, 


329 


With  the  creation  of  the  world,  or  the  solar 
system,  the  question  of  its  termination  is  naturally 
associated.     On  this  subject,  however,  I  will  not 
dwell  at  length,  because  the  support  here  afforded 
by  scientific  opinion  is  given  to  the  Scriptures  of 
the  New  Testament,  rather  than  the  Old.     To  refer 
again  to  Dr.  Whewell.     In  a  passage  of  extraor- 
dinary grandeur,  he  delivered  (I  think  it  was  in  a 
sermon)  his  opinion  that  the  world  would  end  with 
a  catastrophe,  instead  of  dying  what  is  termed  a 
natural  death.     Such,  as  we  know,  is  the  emphatic 
declaration  of  the  inspired  Word.     "  The  day  of 
the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night :  in  the 
which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great 
noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat ; 
the  earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein,  shall 
be  burned  up"  (2  Peter  3 :  10,  12).    And  again, 
"  Looking  for  and  hasting  unto  the  coming  of  the 
day  of  God,  wherein  the  heavens  being  on  fire 
shall   be   dissolved,  and  the  elements   shall  melt 
with  fervent  heat."     Such  was  the  judgment  of 
Dr.  Whewell  nearly  half  a  century  ago.     His  words 


330 


RECENT  CORROBORA  TIONS 


were  delivered  rather  as  by  one  uttering  his  own 
firm  opinion,  than  as  expressing  the  conviction  of 
astronomers  at  large.  Nevertheless,  as  I  have  been 
informed  on  high  authority,  it  is  now  the  estab- 
lished conclusion  of  astronomers,  based  upon 
reasoning  from  ascertained  facts,  that  the  Galilean 
fisherman  knew,  and  wrote  for  our  instruction, 
what  all  the  genius  and  learning  of  the  world  for 
thousands  of  years  failed  to  learn,  and  that — 

"  The  great  globe  itself. 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve." » 

III. — AS   TO   THE   FLOOD  STORY. 

I  pass  now  to  the  Flood  Legend,  one  form  of 
which  has  come  down  through  Berosus  and 
Josephus,  but  which  acquires  much  more  certain 
antiquity,  and  greater  grandeur,  from  the  Assyrian 
inscriptions.  Their  account,  says  Schrader,  whose 
bias  cannot,  I  think,  be  considered  as  over-favorable 
to  the  Hebrew  record,  "  brings  the  Bibhcal  narra- 

*  Shakespeare,  "Tempest,"  IV.  i. 


I 


f 


OF  SCRIPTURE, 


331 


tive  into  much  closer  relation  with  the  Chaldean 
flood  legend  than  could  be  assumed  on  the  basis 
of  the  tradition  in  Berosus."^     It  forms  part  of  the 
Izdubar  legends  discovered  by  Mr.  George  Smith, 
who  published  his  account  of  them  in   1872,  and 
who  assigns  to  them  a  date  anterior  to  2000  years 
B.  c.  under  the  early  Babylonian  empire.^     The  hero 
of  the  legends  is  believed  by  Mr.  Smith  to  be  the 
same  as  the  Nimrod  of  Genesis.     Like  the  Creation 
Story  of  Genesis,'*  that  of  the  Flood  derives  cor- 
roboration from  the  Babylonian  record,  inasmuch  as 
it  is  thus  carried  back  by  an  independent  testimony 
to  a  very  great  antiquity.     That  record,  composed, 
as  Mr.  Smith  thinks,  not  long  after  the  time  of 
Izdubar  or  Nimrod,  gives  us  the  tradition  oT  a  flood 
which  was  a  divine  punishment  for  the  wickedness 
of  the  world,  and  of  a  holy  man,  who  built  an  ark, 
and  escaped  the  general   destruction.*     The  par- 
ticulars are  set  out  in  Mr.  Smith's  volume.     They 
differ,  in  many  respects,  from  those  of  Genesis,  but 

*  Schrader,  as  above,  p.  47. 

*  "Assyrian  Discoveries,"  p.  166. 

^Ibid.  and  204.  4  Pages  205,  206,  seqq. 


332  RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 

essential  features  are  in  the  highest  degree 
marked,  and,  together  with  certain  of  the  details, 
are  singularly  accordant.^  As  in  the  case  of  the 
Creation  Story,  so  here  there  is  stamped  upon  them 
the  note  of  a  common  source,  and  of  channels  of 
descent  which  separate  at  some  later  date.  In  this 
case,  however,  the  Babylonian  narrative  holds  a 
higher  position,  relatively  to  the  scriptural  record, 
than  in  the  case  of  the  Creation. 

The  hero  of  the  deluge  is  Hasisadra,  a  name 
which  has  been  hellenized  into  Xisuthrus.  He,  on 
the  eleventh  tablet,  relates  to  Izdubar  (the  supposed 
Nimrod)  the  story  of  the  deluge.  I  shall  only 
attempt  an  outline  presenting  the  main  points.^ 

In  the  ancient  city  of  Surippah,  where  Anu  and 
other  chief  gods  were  worshipped,  Hasisadra  was 
divinely  warned  by  Hea,  the  great  water-god,  to 
construct  a  ship,  of  which  the  size  is  named;  and 
to  commit  to  it  "the  seed  of  hfe,  all  of  it,"  as  "the 
sinner  and  life "  were  about  to  be  destroyed  by  a 
flood.     Food,  furniture,  wealth,  servants,  and  ani- 


»  Page  184,  seqf^ 


*  Smith,  pp.  184-194. 


OF  SCRIPTURE.  ^^^ 

mals,  were  all  to  be  embarked.     The  building  and 
loading  of  the  ship  are  then  described,  and  the  part 
taken  by  the  several  deities  in  bringing  about  the 
catastrophe.     But  "  the  gods "  themselves  feared 
the  tempest,  and  "ascended  to  the  heaven  of  Anu." 
•This  deluge  lasted  for  six  days:  on  the  seventh  all 
was  quiet.     There  is  sight  of  land  from  within  the 
vessel.     It  is  arrested  by  the  mountain  of  Nizir.    A 
dove  is  sent  forth,  and  returns.     A  swallow  is  sent, 
and  does  the  like.     A  raven   goes,  feeds  on  the 
corpses   that  are   afloat,  and  returns  not.     Then 
comes  landing  from  the  vessel,  sacrifice,  the  send- 
ing forth  of  animals.     Next,  Ninip  and  Hea  remon- 
strate   with    Bel,  and   suggest   other   more  usual 
means  of  chastising  men,  in  which  there  seems  to 
be  some  affinity  to  the  promise  of  Genesis  8:21,  22, 
and  9:  11-17,  that  there  should  never  again  be  a 
flood  upon  the  earth.     And  "  then  dwelt  Hasisadra 
in  a  remote  place,  at  the  mouth  of  the  rivers." 

The  resemblances  between  this  narrative  of  the 
flood  and  that  in  Genesis  are  such  as  clearly  to  be- 
token a  relationship  at  or  near  the  source.     The 


334 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


most  peculiar,  and  at  the  same  time  purely  inci- 
dental, among  all  the  details  of  the  narrative, 
appears  to  be  the  threefold  experiment  with  birds 
upon  the  decline  of  the  waters ;  but  this  is  found 
alike  in  the  three  narratives  of  Chaldc-ea,  the  Bible, 
and  Berosus.  No  other  nations  have  accounts  so 
full  and  precise  as  these.^ 

Mr.  Smith  has  some  judicious  and  impartial  obser- 
vations on  the  two  accounts.2     The  Chaldean  ac- 
count indicates  the  nature  of  the  country  in  which 
the  flood  took  place.     Surippah  is  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Euphrates,  and  there  we  learn  that  Hea  was 
worshipped  as  the  god  of  the  deluge.     The  Hebrew 
account  has  no  local  corroborations  of  the  story. 
When  Surippah  was  conquered,  in  the  sixteenth 
century  b.c.  or  earlier,  it  is  called  in  the  record, 
"  the  city  of  the  ark."     Hasisadra  is,  like  Noah,  a 
devout  man  ;  and  the  Chaldean  deluge  is,  like  the 
Hebrew,  a  punishment  for  gross  and  widespread 
sin.     Schrader  argues  with  a  view  to  attenuate  this 
statement,  but,  as  it  appears  to  me,  in  the  spirit  of 


*  Smith,  p.  212. 


^  Rid, 


OF  SCRIPTURE, 


335 


a  partisan  rather  than  a  judge.^     The  dimensions 
of  the  ark  vary  in  the  three  accounts  ;  and  on  the 
variations  of  numerals  I  have  made  remarks  else- 
where.    It  may,  however,  be   observed   that   the 
Babylonian  account,  which  presumably  was  written 
down  from  a  very  early  date,  and  in  a  durable  form, 
has  in  this   respect  a  great  advantage   over  oral 
transmission,  which  is  most  of  all  dangerous  for 
numerical  statements.     The  inscription  describes  a 
regular  vessel  with  boatmen,  another  incident  of 
local   color.     The  accounts  curiously  coincide  in 
the  minute  point  that,  both  inside  and  out,  the  ark 
is  coated  with  bitumen.     The  tablet  tells  us  that 
not  eight  only,  but  a  comparatively  large  number 
of  persons,  went  on  board.     The  Bible  gives  forty 
days  as  the  duration  of  the   flood,  meaning  ap- 
parently when  at  the  height.     After  150  days  the 
waters  all  abated.     The  whole  duration  before  dis- 
appearance is  a  year  and  ten  days  (Gen.  7  :  11,  12, 
13.  14,  I7»  24).     The  tablet  allows  only  seven  days 
for  the  fulness  of  the  flood.     On  the  seventh  day 

1  Vol.  I.,  p.  49. 


336  RECENT  CORROBORA  TIONS 

all  storm  has  ceased.     Hasisadra  then  sends  out 
the  bird.     The  ship  is  stranded  for  seven  days  more 
on  the  mountains  of  Nizir.  so  that  the  total  term 
mentioned  is  one  of  only  fourteen  days.     Nizir  lies 
away  to  the  east,  far  from  the  site  of  Ararat  men- 
tioned in  Genesis;  on  the  other  hand,'  the  present 
tradition  of  the  country  lands  the  ark  at  a   site 
farther  to  the  north,  and   nearer  Ararat.     Again 
as  to  the  birds.     In  Genesis,  Noah   sends  out  a 
raven,  which  docs  not  return;  then  a  dove  three 
times,  at  intervals  of  seven   days ;  on   the   third 
occasion  the  dove  docs  not  return.     The  inscription 
sends,  first,  a  dove,  which  returns,  then  a  swallow 
which  returns,  and  then  a  raven,  which  does  no^ 
return.     Lastly,  in  the  Bible.  Noah  lives  after  the 
flood  for  3SO  years ;  the  tablet  and  Berosus  both 
assign  to  Hasisadra,  associated  (rather  strangely) 
with  his  daughter  and  the  helmsman,'  that  trans- 
lation to  heaven  for  his  piety,  which  Genesis  gives  to 
Enoch.     Before  translation,  he  was  visited  by  Izdu- 
bar,  and  the  region  was  deemed  a  sacred  region. 

•Smith,  p. „7.  >Schn«ier,I.<io, 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 


117 


On  a  general  comparison  of  these  two  profoundly 
interesting  records,  the  result  appears  to  be  that  in 
what  is  circumstantial  only  there  is  much  difference 
along  with  some  curious  resemblance;  but  in  the 
outline  of  the  fundamental  facts,  and  in  the  moral 
considerations  applicable,  they  are  radically  at  one. 
The  wickedness  of  the  antediluvian  world,  the  divine 
anger,  the  command  to  build,  the  use  of  this  vehicle 
of  escape,  and  the  erection  of  an  altar  of  thanks- 
giving, are  recorded  alike  in  each.     We  have  no 
absolute  right  to  assume  that  either  of  the  accounts, 
as   it  stands,   is   exactly   contemporary  with   the 
period  of  the  flood.    The  points  in  which  the  Bible 
account  may  seem  inferior  are  the  absence  of  local 
coloring,  and  the  probable  relation  of  the  numerical 
statements  to  actual  fact.     Yet  this,  so  far  from 
impairing  its  claim  to  our  acceptance,  appears  on 
the  contrary  to  accredit  it,  because  it  is  a  feature 
which,  given  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  there 
was   reason   to   expect.     If,   indeed,  we   ride  the 
hobby  of  the  negative  criticism,  the  Bible  account 
bristles  everywhere  with   difficulty.     It  is  incon- 

22 


338 


JiECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


ceivable  that  the  framers  should  have  in  that  case 

departed  so  widely  from   the   inscription   on  the 

tablets,  in  points  so  palpable  to  all  the  world,  or 

should  have  let  slip  the  local  color,  with  which  a 

fabricator,  or  late  relator,  would  have  been  forward 

to  dress  up  his  narrative.    But,  if  we  take  Abraham, 

with  his  ancestors  and  his  posterity,  as  a  nomad 

people,  religious  and  of  simple  life  such  as  the  Bible 

represents  them;  at  an  earlier  period  hanging  on 

the  outskirts  of  the  Babylonian  power,  at  a  later 

one  migratory  towards  the  West;   it  was  natural 

for  them  to  drop  the  local  coloring  of  a  region  with 

which  all  their  relations  had  come  to  an  end,  and 

also  to  fall  somewhat  behind  in  the  exactitude,  of 

some  among  the  particulars;  and  this  is  perhaps 

observable,  as  to  the  point  of  local  color,  not  in 

the   case  of  the  flood  only,  but   throughout   the 

Abrahamic  narrative  down  to  the  entry  into   the 

promised  land. 

The  most  significant  difference  of  all  between 
the  two  records  is  that  the  inscription  is  founded 
upon  polytheism,  while  in  the  Bible,  here  as  else- 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 

339 

where,  all  is  based  upon  the  doctrine  of  one  God 
That  is  to  say,  the  simpler  form  is  the  groundwork 
of  the  Bible  narrative;  and  the  simpler  form   ac- 
cording to  the  generally  recognized  principle   is 
that  nearest  the  source,  most  closely  akin  to  the 
occurrence  or  the  original  record.    The  religion  of 
Noah   agrees   with   that   of  the   common    father 
Adam;    the   religion   of  Hasisadra   has   departed 
from  the  primitive  belief,  and  exhibits  to  us  those 
multiplied  and  deteriorated  images  of  the  Deity 
which  human  infirmity  and  sin  had  introduced  or 
allowed. 

While  Schrader  glances  at  the  period  when  the 
Babylonian  flood-legend  reached  the  Hebrews  as 
that  of  "the  prophetic  narrator  of  early  Biblical 
history,"  he  candidly  adds,  "  I  am  led  to  the  obvi- 
ous conclusion  that  the  Hebrews  were  acquainted 
with  this  legend  at  a  much  eariier  period,  and  that 
it  is  far  from  impossible  that  they  acquired  a  knowl- 
edge of  these  and  the  other  primitive  myths  now 
under  investigation  as  far  back  as  in  the  time  of 
their  eariier  settlements  in  Babylonia,  and  that  they 


340 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


carried  these  stones  with  them  from  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees."    For  him  they  are  all  myths  ;  the  origi- 
nal invention  is  in  Babylonia,  and  the  Hebrews  are 
early  copyists.    If  this  be  a  copy,  and  a  copy  made 
among  an  artless  race,  it  seems  not  a  little  strange 
that  the  copy  should  in  essentials  so  much  excel 
the  original.     But  for  other  observers,  however, 
they   are   in    the    nature   of   primitive   traditions, 
founded  on  histories ;   and  the  twin  versions  bear 
testimony  by  their  concurrence,  and  even  in  some 
respects  by  their  discrepancies,  to  their  historical 
character.     If  there  was  remoulding,  it  may  be  the 
more  detailed  and  circumstantial  narration  which 
is  presumptively  entitled  to  the  credit  of  it;  and  the 
Bible  story,  more  sparing   in    its  details,  but  far 
Broader  and  more  direct  in  the  terrible  lesson  it 
conveys,  may  reasonably  be  judged  to  have  come 
down  from  the  source  with  the  smallest  amount  of 
variation  in  essentials  from  the  original.     It  is  here 
as  elsewhere.     "  The  wisdom  of  this  world,"  the 
race  favored  with  stable  institutions,  and  with  intel- 
lectual development,  yet  fails  in  the  firmness  of  its 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 


341 


hold,  and  the  clearness  of  its  view,  where  the  ap- 
preciation of  the  tremendous  moral  lesson  is  con- 
cerned; while  the  race  ofwandering  shepherds,  who 
are  but  the  "babes  and  sucklings"  of  intelHgence, 
yet  transmit  that  lesson  in  a  type  so  fresh  and  clear 
that  our  Lord  has  only  to  quote  and  enlarge  with- 
out correcting  it,  and  so  to  launch  it  anew  into  the 
world  as  a  solemn  chapter  of  his  gospel  teaching. 

It  may  be  noticed  that  the  translation  to  heaven 
of  Hasisadra,  the  Noah  of  the  tablets,  is  in  curious 
accordance  with  that  far  larger  development  both 
of  the  Underworld  and  of  the  future  state,  which 
marks  alike  the  Babylonian  and  the  Egyptian  sys- 
tems in  comparison  with  that  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  forms  an  interesting  but  separate  subject 
of  discussion. 

The  Hebrew  story  of  the  Deluge  has  long  been 
supported  by  a  diversity  of  traditions  among  the 
nations  and  races  of  the  world,  but  never  before 
with  such  particularity,  or  such  corroboration  in 
the  sense  and  to  the  extent  already  described.  But 
though  we  have  now  a  new  and  important  witness 


340 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


carried  these  stories  with  them  from  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees."    For  him  they  are  all  myths  ;  the  origi- 
nal invention  is  in  Babylonia,  and  the  Hebrews  are 
early  copyists.    If  this  be  a  copy,  and  a  copy  made 
among  an  artless  race,  it  seems  not  a  little  strange 
that  the  copy  should  in  essentials  so  much  excel 
the  original.     But  for  other   observers,  however, 
they   are   in    the    nature   of   primitive   traditions, 
founded  on  histories ;    and  the  twin  versions  bear 
testimony  by  their  concurrence,  and  even  in  some 
respects  by  their  discrepancies,  to  their  historical 
character.     If  there  was  remoulding,  it  may  be  the 
more  detailed  and  circumstantial  narration  which 
is  presumptively  entitled  to  the  credit  of  it;  and  the 
Bible  story,  more  sparing   in    its  details,  but  far 
broader  and  more  direct  in  the  terrible  lesson  it 
conveys,  may  reasonably  be  judged  to  have  come 
down  from  the  source  with  the  smallest  amount  of 
variation  in  essentials  from  the  original.     It  is  here 
as  elsewhere.     "  The  wisdom  of  this  world,"  the 
race  favored  with  stable  institutions,  and  with  intel- 
lectual development,  yet  fails  in  the  firmness  of  its 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 


341 


hold,  and  the  clearness  of  its  view,  where  the  ap- 
preciation of  the  tremendous  moral  lesson  is  con- 
cerned; while  the  raceof  wandering  shepherds,  who 
are  but  the  "babes  and  sucklings"  of  intelHgence, 
yet  transmit  that  lesson  in  a  type  so  fresh  and  clear 
that  our  Lord  has  only  to  quote  and  enlarge  with- 
out correcting  it,  and  so  to  launch  it  anew  into  the 
world  as  a  solemn  chapter  of  his  gospel  teaching. 

It  may  be  noticed  that  the  translation  to  heaven 
of  Hasisadra,  the  Noah  of  the  tablets,  is  in  curious 
accordance  with  that  far  larger  development  both 
of  the  Underworld  and  of  the  future  state,  which 
marks  alike  the  Babylonian  and  the  Egyptian  sys- 
tems in  comparison  with  that  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  forms  an  interesting  but  separate  subject 
of  discussion. 

The  Hebrew  story  of  the  Deluge  has  long  been 
supported  by  a  diversity  of  traditions  among  the 
nations  and  races  of  the  world,  but  never  before 
with  such  particularity,  or  such  corroboration  in 
the  sense  and  to  the  extent  already  described.  But 
though  we  have  now  a  new  and  important  witness 


342  DECENT  CORROBORATIONS 

in  court  on  our  behalf,  yet  undoubtedly,  if  the  nar- 
rative be  provably  untrue,  the  testimony  of  both 
or  of  any  number  of  traditional  witnesses,  must  fall' 
to  the  ground. 

The  voice  of  natural  science  has  not  been,  and 
apparently  is  not  at  present,  uniform  on  this  sub- 
ject.   The  negative  has  just  been  presented  to  the 
world,  of  course  with  great  ability,  and  also  in  a 
sufficiently  magisterial  form,  by  Professor  Huxley 
He  conceives  that  Christian  theology  must  stand 
or  fall  with  the  historical  trustworthiness  of  the 
Jewish  Scriptures ;  •  and,  as  these  are  not  trust- 
worthy, the  consequence  is  that  it  must  not  stand 
but  fall.     With  this  general  proposition  I   have' 
here  nothing  to  do. 

Mr.  Huxley  selects  the  flood-story  for  the  cap- 
ital  article  of  his  indictment.  But  he  treats  it  as 
little  worthy  of  serious  notice.  ''It  is  difficult  to 
persuade  serious  scientific  inquirers  to  occupy 
themselves  in  any  way  with  the  Noachian  deluge  "» 
He  finds,  indeed,  a  sort  of  historic  nucleus  for  a 

'  Nineteenth  Ceatuiy.  July.  1890,  p.  8.  .  n,id,^  p.  ^^ 


OF  SCRIPTURE, 


343 


partial  deluge  in  the  occasional  desolating  floods 
of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris.^     But,  be  it  a  partial 
or  be  it  a  general  flood,  he  applies  the  negative 
doctrine,  in   the  same  contemptuous  form,  to   the 
Deluge:   perhaps  most  of  all  to  what  he  terms  a 
particularly  absurd  attempt  at  reconciliation,  which 
places  it  "  at  the  end  of  the  glacial  epoch."  ^     I  am 
far  from  intending  to  enter   upon  a  controversy 
which  I  have  no  capacity  to  handle.     Yet  I  may  be 
bold  enough  to  mention,  that,  while  Mr.  Huxley  is 
speaking  in  the  name  of  science  at  large,  some 
votaries  of  science  hold  an  entirely  different  lan- 
guage.    Moreover,  that  the  idea  of  a  flood  was  not 
thus  summarily  dismissed  by  the  luminaries  of  the 
scientific  world  anterior  to  the  present  day ;   and 
that  the  grounds  of  this  dismissal  are  not  of  recent 
discovery,  but  were  fully  open  to  the  geologists  of 
the  last  generation.     Quite  recently,  the  doctrine 
of  a  Deluge  has  been  maintained  by  Sir  J.  Daw- 
son, ^  by  Mr.  Howorth,  and  by  the  Duke  of  Argjdl 

1  Nineteenth  Century,  July.  1890.  p.  14.  2  /^,-^_^  p^  ^^ 

»  "  Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands,"  p.  252. 


344 


KM  CENT  CORROBORATIONS 


(if  I  interpret  him  aright)/  all  of  whom  are,  I  sup- 
pose, to  be  considered  as  "serious  scientific  in- 
quirers.'* 

Mr.  Howorth,  in  his  learned  and  laborious  work 
on  "  The  Mammoth  and  the  Flood,"  is  certainly 
not  bound  by  any  superstitious  reverence  for  the 
mere  text  of  the  Book  of  Genesis;  for  in  his  pref- 
ace,2  he  seems  to  cast  aside  as  null  its  traditions 
respecting  all  that  preceded  the  creation  of  man. 
His  treatise  collects  largely  not  only  the  diluvial 
traditions  of  so  many  races  and  countries,  but  an 
immense  mass  of  pal^eontological  evidence;   and, 
having  laid  this  wide  ground  for  his  induction,  he 
declares  that,  in  Iiis  judgment,  the  whole  points 
unmistakably 

"  To  a  widespread  calamity,  involving  a  flood  on  a  great 
scale.  I  do  not  see  how  the  historian,  the  archsologist. 
and  the  pahxontologist  can  avoid  making  this  conclusion  in 
future  a  prime  factor  in  their  discussions,  and  I  venture  to 
think  that  before  long  it  will  be  accepted  as  unanswerable."  » 

1  Good  Words.  January.  1884;    and  Scot.  Geograph.  Mag..  April. 
'^^"  *  Pages  ix.x.  »  Page  463. 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 


345 


Moreover,  I  am  free  to  consider  history  no  less 
a  science,  though  a  less  determinate  science,  than 
geology  or  biology;  and  I  quote  in  conclusion  the 
following  passage  from  Lenormant,  which  follows 
a  copious  collection  of  testimonies  to  the  tradition 
of  a  Deluge  in  almost  all  lands;— 

"  La  longue  revue,  a  laquelle  nous  venons  de  nous  livrer, 
nous  permet  daffirmer  que  le  recit  du  deluge  est  une  tradi- 
tion universelle  dans  tous  les  rameaux  de  Thumanite.  a  I'ex- 
ception  toutefois  de  la  race  noire.     Mais  un  souvenir  par- 
tout,  aussi  precis  et  aussi  concordant,  ne  saurait  etre  celui 
d'un  mythe  invente  a  plaisir;  aucun  mythe  religieux  ou  cos- 
mogonique  ne  presente  ce  caractere  d  universalite.     C'est 
necessairement  le  souvenir  d'un  ^venement  reel  et  terrible, 
qui  frappa  assez  puissamment  I'imagination  des  ancetres  de 
notre  esp^ce  pour  n'etre  jamais  oublie  de  leurs  descendants. 
Ce  cataclysme  se  produit  pr^s  du  berceau  primitif  de  I'hu- 
manite."* 

» ••  Les  Origines  de  I'Histoire."  pp.  489. 490.  Second  edition.  1880. 
"The  long  review,  to  which  we  have  just  applied  ourselves,  warrants 
our  affirming  that  the  tale  of  the  Deluge  is  a  universal  tradition 
among  all  the  branches  of  the  human  family;  excepting,  however,  the 
blacks.  But  a  remembrance  prevailing  everywhere,  so  precise  and 
so  concordant,  cannot  belong  to  a  myth  arbitrarily  invented.     No 


|; 


346  RECENT  CORK  OB  OR  A  TIONS 

IV. — AS   TO   THE   GREAT    DISPERSION. 

The  contents  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis 
constitute   a   document  of  a  character  altogether 
extraordinary:  for  example,  in  the  two  following 
particulars.      First,   it   is   without  parallel  in   the 
world.     Nowhere   else   is   there   known   to  us   a 
distinct  and  detailed  endeavor  to  draw  downwards 
from  a  single  source  the  multiplication  of  men  in 
the  earth  by  families,  and  the  distribution  of  them 
over  the  face  of  the  earth.     Secondly,  this  account, 
containing  seventy-two  names  of  men  (to  which 
more  are  added  in  connection  with  the  descent  of 
Abram  when  we  reach  chapter  1 2),  is  so  particular, 
that  the  notion  of  its  correct  transmission  by  or- 
dinary means  may  appear  to  present  much  difficulty. 
Abram,  when  he  migrated  westward,  came  from  a 

religious  or  cosmogonic  myth  presents  such  a  character  of  universality. 
It  must  of  necessity  be  a  recollection  of  a  great  and  terrible  occur- 
rence, which  impressed  the  imagination  of  the  ancestors  of  our  race 
so  powerfully  as  never  to  have  been  forgotten  by  their  descendants. 
That  cataclysm  took  place  at  a  spot  near  the  primeval  cradle  of 
humanity. 


OF  SCRIPTURE, 


Z47 


country,  which  we  now  know  to  have  possessed  in 
his  time  means  of  durable  record;  but,  as  the  head 
of  a  nomad  family,  he  could  hardly  have  carried 
with  him  written  traditions :  and  a  specific  narrative 
of  this  kind,  like  the  Greek  catalogue  in  the  "  Iliad," 
presented  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of  oral  trans- 
mission through  several,  perhaps   many,  genera- 
tions, down  to  the  time  when  we  may  reasonably 
suppose  the  children  of  Israel  to  have  acquired  the 
art  of  writing,  namely,  during  their  sojourn   in 
Egypt.     The  assisting  providence   of  God   may 
suggest   itself  to   the   believing  mind   as   having 
supplied  the  needful   measure  of  that  aid,  which 
Homer  ^  besought,  in  a  kindred   case,  from  the 
Muses.     But  the  document,  if  thus  considered,  lays 
a  certain  weight  upon  our  faculty  of  belief,  and 
even  offers  a  tempting  invitation  to  assault  from 
those  who  are  adversely  minded.      This  weight, 
however,  is  converted  at  once  into  a  prop,  into  a 
buttress  which  well  and  stoutly  supports  the  wall, 
when  we  find  that  this  singular  and,  so  to  speak, 

1  Iliad,  II.  484. 


jt 


/ 


} 


348 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


exposed  tradition  has  received  in  the  most  funda- 
mental and  vital  points,  from  the  researches  of 
philological  and  of  historical  science,  striking  and, 
we  may  suppose,  conclusive  confirmation. 

The  foundation  of  the  arrangement  is  the  three- 
fold division  of  the  human  race  from  a  certain 
period  of  its  history.  If  such  a  division  actually 
took  place,  we  might  expect  to  find  the  traces  of  it 
in  a  threefold  division  of  language,  which  has  an 
unquestionable  relation  to  race;  and,  conversely, 
such  a  divarication  in  language  proves  an  early 
distribution  of  races  or  families,  from  which  it  took 
its  origin.  Without  entering  into  details,  it  may  be 
observed  that  the  Book  of  Genesis,  in  its  tenth  and 
eleventh  chapters,  associates  the  first  distinctions 
of  language  with  the  local  dispersion  of  man ;  and 
it  is  now  known  that,  in  days  antecedent  to  the 
permanent  "bond  of  literature,  such  an  association 
is  agreeable  not  only  to  probability,  but  to  the 
ascertained  laws  of  experience.  And  now  we  find 
that  comparative  philology,  dealing  at  large  with 
the  languages  of  the  world,  has  resolved  them  into 


I 
I 

I 


OF  SCRIPTURE, 


349 


that  very  threefold  division,  which  the  distribution 
of  man  according  to  Genesis  lo  into  three  great 
branches  anticipates  and  requires.  Here  is  again 
an  important  service,  rendered  by  modern  science 
to  belief. 

It  is  true  that  the  Bible  (Gen.  ii:  i)  speaks  of 
language  as  originally  one,  and  that  this  propo- 
sition has  not  yet  been  generally  affirmed  by  phi- 
lology.    Yet  the  way  to  it  has  been  opened,  and 
it  need  excite  no  surprise  should  the  goal  be  soon 
attained.     Professor  Max  Miiller,  I  believe,  says 
there   is  no  proof  that  the  Aryan,  Semitic,  and 
Turanian   families   of  language  had   independent 
beginnings;  that  radicals  existing  in  all  the  three 
can  be  traced  to  the  common  source,  and  that  even 
the  grammars  may  have  been  originally  one.     But 
this  subject  still  awaits  its  scientific  elucidation  or 
decision. 

The  table  of  peoples  presents  on  its  surface  some 
apparent  anomalies ;  of  which,  however,  a  rational 
account  can  be  given,  and  one  which  for  the  most 
part  converts  them  into  evidences  in  its  favor.     For 


350 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


instance,  the  Hamitic  portion  presents  to  us  out  of 
a  total  of  thirty  names  no  less  than  eighteen  which 
are  plural  words,  and  which  are  therefore  national 
or  tribal,  while  only  two  of  the  same  class  are 
found  in  the  rest  of  the  account.  But  this  seems 
upon  consideration  to  illustrate  what  we  know  from 
history;  namely,  that  the  Hamitic  races  exhibited 
the  most  precocious  development,  and  set  up  the 
earliest  known  civilizations  of  the  world,  those  of 
Accadian  Babylonia  and  of  Egypt. 

Again,  the  Cushite  stock,  after  its  regular  order 
is  arrested  in  verse  7  of  the  chapter,  jumps  as  it 
were  down  to  Nimrod  in  8-10.  But  we  must  bear 
in  mind  the  greatness  assigned  to  his  individual 
position.  He  is  the  only  person  in  the  table  who 
is  described  as  founding  a  kingdom,  and  the  account 
of  him  has  a  great  resemblance  to  that  of  Izdubar 
in  the  Assyrian  tablets,  with  whom  he  is  identified 
by  Mr.  George  Smith. 

Again,  as  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth  are  four  times 
mentioned  together,  and  invariably  in  this  order,  it 
seems  to  follow  naturally  that  this  is  the  order  of 


OP  SCRIPTURE.  -J 

their  ages.>  In  chapter  10,  however,  their  descend- 
ants are  set  out  in  the  inverse  order,  and  Japheth 
takes  precedence.  But  this  also,  upon  reflection,  we 
may  find  to  be  quite  inteIHgible.  Migration  was 
largely  connected  with  considerations  of  space  and 
food.  It  may  be  that  the  younger  had  to  give  place 
to  the  elder,  and  that  the  children  of  Japheth  had 
on  this  account  to  be  the  first  in  moving  from  the 
common  centre. 

Further,  in  the  Japhetic  line  the  genealogy  wholly 
stops  with  the  next  generation  but  one,  whereas,  it 
is  continued  farther,  not  only  in  the  Semitic  line, 
which  had  to  be  connected  with  Abram,  but  also  in 
the  Hamitic,  by  the  mention  of  Nimrod  and  of  the 
Philistines.     This,  however,  seems  perfectly  natural, 
if  the  line  of  Japheth,  as  is  probable,  moved  the 
first,  and,  as  is  manifest,  went  the  farthest,  so  as  to 
be  out  of  sight  of  the  narrator,  while  descendants 
of  Shem  and  Ham  remained  locally  in  contact  with 

'  In  a  work  of  great  research,  not  published,  but  printed  for  private 
e.rculat,on,  Lord  Crawford  expresses  a  confident  opinion  that  Japheth 
was  the  oldest  of  the  three  brother.  (The  Creed  of  Japheth  Letter 
to  Bishop  Forbes,  pp.  xvi-xix). 


352 


RECENT  CORROBORA  TIONS 


each  other.  Knobel"  has  observed,  that  in  each  of 
the  three  branches  the  Snumeration  begins  with 
those  who  traveled  to  the  greatest  distance  from 
the  common  centre  (which  is  taken  by  him  to  be 
near  Mount  Ararat),  and  accordingly  the  Japhetites 
are  reckoned  from  the  north-west,  the  Semites  from 
the  south-east,  and  Hamites  from  the  south-west. 
Just  as  in  the  case  of  the  Homeric  catalogue,'  this 
methodical  arrangement  probably  gave  great  assist- 
ance to  the  memory  of  the  first  recorder. 

Knobel*  has  discussed  with  great  minuteness  and 
care  the  particular  names  of  the  recital,  and  he 
traces  them  to  their  historic  seats.  Bishop  Browne, 
in  the  "Speaker's  Commentary,"  has  entered  on  the 
same  field.  Some  examples  may  be  given.  The  Ja- 
phetites are  those(Japhah=fair)of  fair  complexion. 
They  take  to  the  isles  or  coast-lands,*  the  seaward 
countries  of  the  north  and  west.     Here  we  meet 

"■  Volkertafel  der  Genesis."    Giessen.     1850.     Page  14. 
'See  "  Juventus  Mundi,"  p.  467. 
»  A  similar  process  has  been  usefully  set  forth  more  briefly  by  the 
Rev.  A.  K.  Glover  in  his  "  Ethnographic  Scope  of  the  Tenth  Chapter 
of  Genesis."  4  gee  Revised  Version.  Gen.  10  •  5 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 

353 

the  name  of  Gomer  reproduced  in  the  Cimmerians 
Cmbn  and  Cwm^..    Ashkenaz,  the  son  of  Gomer' 
•s  found  in  Scandinavia,'  the  Scangia  of  Jornandes.' 
the  chief  seat  of  the  German  stock.    Another  route 
-  marked  in  the  same  direction  by  Ascania,^  in 
Asia  Minor,  a  name  found  at  various  points  of  that 
region.     Knobel  thinks  there  is  a  trace  of  the  Teu- 
tonic race  in  Teuthras,a  name  found  on  both  sides 
jn  the  war  of  the  "Iliad.-     He  proceeds  with  the 
St  of  Japhetites  as  follows.     Riphath,  he  thinks,  is 
traced   in   the   Carpathian  country.*  Togarma  in 
Armenia,  Magog  in  the  Slavs,  Madai  in  the  Medes 

Javan  i^  the  laones  or  lonians,  Elisa  in  ^olians,' 
Tarshish  m  the  Tursenoi,  Kittim  in  the  Chitians  of 
Cyprus.  Dodanim  in  the  Dardanians,  Tubal  in  the 

Iberians  Meshech  in  the  Meschi  or  Moschi.  Tiras 
n  the  Thracans  (Thrax  or  Thras).»    Some  among 

these  particular  interpretations-for  instance,  tha! 

g.ven  to  Elisa-may  be  untenable.    Bishop  Browne^ 

»  Knobel,  iHd.,  pp.  33.37 

»  Iliad,  V.  70s  and  VI.  X3.  4  Rnoh  ,    ■!!  •v''^'  ^'■ 

^^^^  53,  60,  71,  77,  sx,  95.  „7  , 
Speakers  Commen,.,ry,"  Genesis,  in  loc 
23 


354 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


sets  out  the  various  opinions  that  h^ve  been  held, 
mostly  without  declaring  a  preference.  It  is  not, 
however,  the  accuracy  of  each  particular  identifica- 
tion, nor  even  of  every  particular  item  of  the  text, 
but  the  principles  of  the  general  arrangement,  and 
the  large  number  of  cases  reasonably  clear,  which 
give  importance  to  the  argument. 

The  Semitic  and  Hamitic  branches  offer  less  diffi- 
culty to  the  investigator.  No  part  of  the  tracking  is 
more  satisfactory  than  that  which  relates  to  the 
nations  of  Palestine,  and  to  the  names  of  Canaan, 
Sidon,  and  Heth,  where  every  particular,  known  to 
us  from  independent  history  or  tradition,  supports, 
so  far  as  I  can  judge,  in  a  most  remarkable  manner, 
the  trustworthiness  of  the  record.  Speaking  gen- 
erally, perhaps  no  one  can  go  farther  than  Knobel 
in  the  work  of  identification.  His  treatise  has  be- 
come a  considerable  authority,  and  is  of  the  greater 
value  because  he  does  not  belong  to  the  conser- 
vative school  of  criticism  on  the  Old  Testament. 


OF  SCRIPTURE, 


355 


V. — ^AS   TO   THE   SINAITIC   JOURNEY. 

In  his  "  Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands,"  Sir  J. 
Dawson  has  examined,  with  elaborate  care,  and 
with  advantages  beyond  those  of  earlier  inquirers,^ 
first  the  dwelling-place  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt, 
and  their  probable  route  from  it  until  they  cross 
the  Yam  Suph;  and  then,  still  more  particularly, 
the  account  of  their  journeyings  beyond  the  Red 
Sea.     His  conclusion   is  that   they  crossed  at  a 
point,2  now  forming  part  of  the  Bitter  Lakes  of  the 
Isthmus,  but  then  a  part  of  the  Red  Sea  itself, 
which  was  fed  in  ancient  times  by  a  branch  of  the 
Nile  flowing  eastwards.'     Yam  Suph,  or  Sea  of 
Weeds,  is  the  name  given  to  it  in  the  Bible.-* 

Beyond  the  Red  Sea,  and  onwards  to  the  Sinaitic 
region,  the  country  has  now  been  surveyed  by 
officers  of  the  British  Ordnance.  All  the  instruments 
of  modern  science  have  been  employed;  the  results 

iFor  example.  Brugsch.  who.  in  his  "  Geschichte  ^gyptens" 
(Leipzig.  1877).  accepting  the  Mosaic  narrative,  assigns  a  different 
route  to  the  march. 

«  Gesch.  ^gyp,.,  p.  389.  .  Page  3,,.  ,  p^^^  ^^^ 


356 


RECENT  CORROBORATIONS 


have  been  published  on  a  large  scale;  and  the 
effect,  as  reported  by  Sir  J.  Dawson,  has  been 
"  entire  agreement  of  the  members  of  the  party  on 
essential  points;"*  and  the  ascertainment  of  such 
complete  coincidence  of  the  actual  features  of  the 
country  with  the  requirements  of  the  Mosaic  nar- 
rative, as  to  prove  it  to  be  a  contemporary  record 
of  the  events  to  which  it  relates.' 

The  route  pursued  by  the  Israelites  down  the 
coast  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  then  to  the  eastward,  is 
worthy  of  peculiar  note,  as  it  seems  to  have  been 
dictated  by  a  combination  of  strategical  considera- 
tions with  those  which  concerned  the  subsistence 
of  the  people,  and  especially  the  supply  of  water. 
The  local  indications  are  on  this  account  all  the 
more  remarkable.  It  is  not  possible,  without  ex- 
ceeding the  limits  proper  for  the  present  observa- 
tions, to  convey  the  full  force  of  the  evidence  which 
shows  how  the  stamp  of  Egypt  was  impressed  both 
upon  the  Israelites  themselves,  and  upon  the  nar- 
rative in  Exodus  of  their  escape;  inasmuch  as  it 

J  Pages  371,  406.  »  Page  407. 


OF  SCRIPTURE. 


ZS7 


depends  on  the  details  of  measurement,  atmosphere, 
water-supply,  and  other  physical  circumstances, 
and  upon  their  relation  to  the  Mosaic  narrative. 
The  conclusions  reached  have  only  an  indirect 
bearing  upon  the  proofs  of  a  divine  revelation 
through  the  Scriptures,  but  they  are  of  great  his- 
torical importance  in  establishing  the  credit  of  the 
book,  and  its  contemporaneous  character  as  to  the 
substance  of  its  contents. 


VII. 


CONCLUSION. 


i Iliillli     '■ 


In  closing  this  series  of  papers,  it  is  right  to 
record  the  admission  that  they  can  lay  no  claim  to 
anything  more  than  touching,  and  that  but  slightly, 
certain  parts  of  a  great  subject.     They  omit  many 
things  important,  perhaps  some  things  essential. 
The  essay  on  the  Creation  Story,  indeed,  aims  at 
bringing  out,  in  lieu  of  simple  apology,  what  seems 
to  me  a  distinct  and  specific  argument  in  proof  of 
a  divine  revelation.     Except  in  that  instance,  their 
main  design  is  to  draw  out,  so  far  as  they  go,  the 
force  of  that  cumulative  evidence  witnessing  to 
such    a   revelation,   which    has    been    so    wisely 
summed  up  by  Bishop  Butler;^  and  also  to  disem- 
barrass relief  in  it  from  those   difficulties  which 

»  "  Analogy.-  Part  II..  Chap.  VII. 


CONCLUSION. 


359 


properly  belong  not  to  itself,  but  to  exaggerations 
and  excrescences  against  which  it  can  carry  no 
absolute  guarantee.     They  form  the  testimony  of 
an  old  man,  in  the  closing  period  of  his  life.     It  is 
rendered  with  no  special  qualification  but  possibly 
this  one.     Few  persons  of  our  British  race  have 
lived  through  a  longer  period  of  incessant  argu- 
mentative contention,  or  have  had  a  more  diversi- 
fied experience  in  trying  to  ascertain,  for  purposes 
immediately  practical,  the  difference  between  tena- 
ble and  untenable  propositions.     Such  experience 
is  directly  conversant  with  the  nature  of  man,  and 
with  his  varied  relations ;  and  I  own  my  inclina- 
tion to  suppose  that  it  is  more  germane  to  the 
treatment  of  subjects  that  lie  directly  between  col- 
lective man  and  the  Author  of  his  being,  more  cal- 
culated to  neutralize  deficiencies,  though  not  to 
impart  capacity,  than  a  familiarity  with  those  ma- 
terial sciences  which  have  supplied  an  arena  for, 
perhaps,  the  most  splendid  triumphs  of  the  century 
now  far  advanced  in  its  decline.     On  this  subject 
has   been  recorded    the   nobly  candid  admission 


36o 


CONCLUSION. 


of  Mr.  Darwin,'  respecting  the  possible  atrophy, 
through  disuse,  of  the  mental  organs  on  which  our 
higher  tastes  depend.  Among  those  organs  I  can- 
not but  include  the  organ  of  belief  On  this  sub- 
ject, however,  I  am  a  biassed  witness.  It  is  for 
others  to  judge.  I  only  offer  a  plea,  not  in  proof 
of  ability,  but  only  in  extenuation  of  defect. 

There  is  in  certain  circles  a  very  confident  dis- 
position to  assert  that,  as  regards  belief  in  super- 
naturalism,  the  intellectual  battle  has  been  fought 
and  won.  and  that  victory  is  on  the  side  of  nega- 
tion.    It  ought  to  be  observed,  before  proceeding 
further,  that  supernaturalism  is  a  term  which  in- 
cludes the  idea  of  God.     A  sense  may  be,  indeed 
loosely  given  to  it,  which  confines  it  to  the  mode 
of  his  manifestations.     But.  essentially,  if  God  be 
there,  the  supernatural  is  there;  and  the  develop- 
ments which  proceed  from  that  idea,  even  if  they 
had  been  crushed  and  stamped  out,  might  germi- 
nate again.     It  is  not,  then,  a  question  of  excres- 
cences or  of  details;  the  life  and  essence  of  religion 

'  "  Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  t.,  pp.  ,o,,  ,0,. 


CONCLUSION. 


361 


are  at  stake.  It  is  the  question  of  belief  in  what  is 
not  perhaps  scientifically,  but  yet  for  practical  pur- 
poses intelligibly,  termed  a  personal  God.  ■ 

I  shall  presently  enter  on  the  moral  causes  which 

may  have  contributed,  and  even  mainly  contributed, 

to  stimulate  the  negative  tendencies  of  the  day.     I 

am   now  only  endeavoring  partially  to  test  the 

j  ustice  of  a  paean,  and  such  a  paean  as  would  not  be 

warranted  even  by  the  established  fact  of  a  victory. 

For  such  a  paean  of  the  victor  is  the  epitaph  of  the 

vanquished:  and  the  victory,  which  is  to  warrant 

it,  must  be  a  victory  belonging  to  that  class  of 

victories,  which  end  the  war. 

That  such  a  song  of  triumph  is  raised  there  can 
be  little   doubt.     It  seems  to   have  inspired  the 
recent  articles  of  that  very  distinguished  and  not 
less  upright  writer.  Professor  Huxley,  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century.     But  I  have  never  seen  a  better 
example  of  the  plenary  satisfaction  which  possesses 
the  mind  of  many  among  the  negative  athletes 
than  in  the  following  passage,  taken  from  a  writer 
of  ability: 


$62 


CONCLUSION, 


"  I  set  out  from  the  standpoint  that  the  mission  of  Free- 
thought  is  no  longer  to  batter  down  old  faiths.  That  has 
been  long  ago  effectively  accomplished ;  and  I,  for  one,  am 
ready  to  put  a  railing  round  the  ruins,  that  they  may  be  pre- 
served from  desecration,  and  serve  as  a  landmark !  Indeed, 
I  confess  to  having  yawned  over  a  recent  vigorous  indict- 
ment of  Christianity."* 

This  purports  to  be  a  description  of  a  certain 
state  of  facts.2  Now,  it  is  not  the  first  time  that 
we  have  heard  description  of  the  kind.  Such  a 
description  was  suppHed  in  an  earlier  time  by  no 
less  a  person  than  Bishop  Butler,  who,  I  apprehend, 
was  not  among  those  given  to  exaggeration.  His 
words  both  have  been,  and  should  be,  quoted  again 
and  again.     They  are  these : ' 

"It  is  come,  I  know  not  how,  to  be  taken  for  granted  by 
many  persons  that  Christianity  is  not  so  much  as  a  subject 

>  Karl  Pearson,  "  Ethics  of  Freethought."  Preface,  p.  5.  The 
dramatic  character  of  this  declaration  is  brought  to  its  climax  by  the 
fact  that  the  work  is  dedicated  to  the  members  of  King's  College, 
Cambridge. 

»  It  is  far  from  being  isolated.  The  same  ideas  are  expressed  with 
greater  vehemence  by  Dr.  Hardwicke,  of  Sheffield,  in  a  preface  to 
"Evolution,"  London,  1890. 

*  From  the  advertisement  to  the  "Analogy." 


CONCLUSION, 


363 


of  inquiry;  but  that  it  is  now  at  length  discovered  to  be 
fictitious.  And,  accordingly,  they  treat  it  as  if,  in  the 
present  age,  this  were  an  agreed  point  among  all  people  of 
discernment,  and  nothing  remained  but  to  set  it  up  as  a 
principal  subject  of  mirth  and  ridicule;  as  it  were  by  way 
of  reprisals,  for  its  having  so  long  interrupted  the  pleasures 
of  the  world." 

It  seems  pretty  plain  that  at  the  time  when  the 
Bishop  published  the  *' Analogy  "^  a  wave  of  unbe- 
lief was  passing  over  the  land.     The  spiritual  de- 
clension of  the  Hanoverian  period  had  set  in;  and 
the  general  standard  of  life,  and  of  the  ideas  cur- 
rent concerning  life,  was  sinking  almost  from  day 
to   day.     The  negative  movement  of  the  period 
may  have  been  quite  as  vigorous,  as  widespread, 
and  as  self-confident,  as  that  of  which  we  now  sus- 
tain the  pressure.    Yet  it  dwindled,  and  almost  dis- 
appeared ;  and  we  may  even  say  that,  at  the  time 
of  Johnson's  social  predominance,  it  left  hardly  a 
trace  behind.^    Nor  was  this  either  the  first  or  the 

*  In  1736. 
»  In  1797,  when  Wilberforce  published  his  "  Practical  View,"  he 
spoke  of  "  absolute  unbelievers  •'  as  a  class  which  he  feared  was  an 


3^4 


CONCLUSION. 


last  of  the  reverses  which  negation  has  suffered. 
At  the  time  of  the  great   Renascence  of  ancient 
learning  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries, 
the  cultivated  mind  of  Europe  sank  far  back  into 
Paganism;  but  that  ebb  was  succeeded  by  a  flow- 
ing tide.    Again,  in  my  own  earlier  days,  say  in  the 
second  quarter  of  the  present  century,  there  was  a 
great  revival,  both  of  the  dogmatic  sense  and  of  the 
religious  life  in   England;  and  the  temper  of  the 
time,  in  the  thinking  world,  was  strongly  adverse 
alike  to  worldliness,  to  indifference,  and  to  unbe- 
lief     No   man,  perhaps,  was   better   qualified   to 
pass  a  judgment  on  this  subject  than  the  late  Dr. 
Whewell;  and  he,  writing  in  November,  1853,  and 
referring  to  an  opinion  expressed  by  a  contemporary 
of  smaller  calibre  than  himself,  says,  ''As  to  this 
assertion  that  scepticism  is  increasing,  it  is  con- 
increasing  one  (Chap.  VII.  sect.  3).   Perhaps  the  great  war  of  the  years 
1793-1815  tended  to  debilitate  the  religious  mind  of  the  country  by 
drawing  off  mental  force  in  another  direction.    I  have,  however,  heard 
from  persons  of  high  authority,  who  were  old  when  I  was  young,  that 
the  French  Revolution  generated  a  distinctly  religious  reaction  on 
this  side  of  the  Channel. 


CONCLUSION 


365 


trary    to    all    my    knowledge    of   the    cultivated 
classes."^     But  as  the  third  quarter  proceeded,  the 
sceptical  movement  set  in  with  a  wide  and  subtle 
power.     History,  then,  seems  to  prove  that  these 
negative   movements   are   subject   not   only  to   a 
hazard,  but  even  to  a  law,  of  mutation;  and  that 
every  one  of  them,  when  it  has  done  its  work,  may 
cease  to  be.     Of  one  thing  we  may  be  assured : 
such  a  movement  derives  no  real  strength,  no  true 
promise  of  permanence,  from  an  overweening  self- 
assertion.      The    question    is   not  what   negation 
thinks  of  itself  and   of  the  opposing  forces,  but 
what  is  the  intrinsic  strength  of  the  reasoning  on 
which  it  rests. 

I  have  said  that,  when  it  has  done  its  work,  it 
may  cease  to  be.  For  doubtless  it  has  a  work  to 
do.  The  wave  that  breaks  and  foams  upon  the 
rock  exhibits  to  us  not  merely,  as  it  might  seem,  a 
picture  of  violence  and  a  source  of  danger,  but  a 
fraction  of  the  vast  oceanic  movement,  which  is  the 
indispensable  condition  of  health  and  purity  both 

»  "  Life  of  Whewell,"  p.  431. 


Z66 


CONCLUSION. 


to  the  water  and  the  air,  and  to  the  populations  by 
which  they  are  respectively  inhabited.     If  we  be- 
lieve in  Providential  government,  we  might  ration- 
ally believe,  even  when  we  did  not  see,  that  those 
boastful,  and  even  powerful,  agencies  are  not  with- 
out their  purposes,  prefigured,  and  bounded  too, 
by  the  counsels  of  God.     It  seems,  however,  not 
difficult   to   discern  a  portion  of  those  purposes; 
which  may  have  been,  first,  to  dispel  the  lethargy 
and  stimulate  the  zeal  of  believers;  and,  secondly, 
to  admonish  their  faith  to  keep  terms  with  reason] 
by  testing  it  at  all  its  points;  lest  fancy,  or  pride,  or 
indolence,  or  the  intolerant  spirit  of  sect  or  party, 
should   have   imported    into    their   beliefs   merely 
human  elements  that  it  may  be  both  needful  and 
difficult  to  eject. 

While  leaving  to  the  champions  of  negation  their 
title,  whatever  it  may  be,  to  insist  on  the  utter  blind- 
ness of  belief,  this  at  least  I  urge  upon  them :  they 
ought  to  understand  that  it  remains  just  as  possible 
now  as  it  was  in  the  early  or  middle  ages  to  uphold 
the  cause  of  belief  in  perfect  good  faith  and  with 


CONCLUSION 


367 


immovable  conviction.  In  the  advance  of  scientific 
knowledge,  and  of  the  critical  art,  I  for  one  see 
much  that  corrects  and  chastens  what  was  tempo- 
rary or  accidental,  and  at  the  same  time  erroneous, 
in  our  persuasions  concerning  the  subjects  of  belief, 
but  nothing  that  disintegrates  or  undermines  the 
basis  of  belief  itself:  much,  on  the  contrary,  that 
confirms  it. 

It  is  sometimes  taken  for  granted  or  alleged,  that 
religion  or  its  champions  are  reduced  to  the  neces- 
sity of  defending  their  cause  only  with  arms  which 
have  been  superseded,  either  by  the  introduction  of 
forces  previously  unknown,  or  by  new  forms  of 
construction  better  adapted  to  their  ends.     In  a 
spirit  which  seems  to  fluctuate  between  pity  and 
a  good-natured   contempt,   Professor   Huxley  de- 
scribes "the  old-fashioned  artillery  of  the  Churches," 
on  the  one  side,  and  "the  weapons  of  precision," 
used  by  the  advancing  forces  of  science  on  the 
other.^     Now  let  it  be  remembered  that  we  have 
not  here  to  do  with  the  masses  of  mankind,  to 

>  Nineteenth  Century,  July,  1890.  p.  22. 


368 


CONCLUSION. 


whom  historical  and  scientific  arguments,  whether 
negative  or  affirmative,  are,  and  probably  must  re- 
main, inaccessible.     We  are  speaking  of  that  stand- 
ing army,  so  to  call  it,  of  more  or  less  instructed 
persons,  who,  on  the  one  side  and  the  other,  exe- 
cute all  the  fighting  on  behalf  of  the  community 
at  large.     Writing,  then,  of  those  within  the  pali- 
sades of  the  lists,  and  not  appealing  to  mere  num- 
bers, I  demur  entirely  to  the  statement  of  Professor 
Huxley.     I  deny  that  the  weapons  of  belief  are  an- 
tiquated :  I  pause  even  before  admitting  that  those 
of  scientific  men  are  always,  except  in  their  own 
particular  sciences,  weapons  of  precision.     When 
we  decline  the  appeal  to  the  established  facts  of 
science,  or  to  the  conclusions  upheld  or  reasonably 
sustained  by  human  experience  through  history,  or 
when  we  fall  into  the  trap  laid  for  us  by  Hume,  and 
treat  the  acceptance  of  our  "holy  religion"  as  a 
matter  in  no  way  amenable  to  the  view  of  reason ; 
then  we  may  be  justly  charged  with  the  use  of 
weapons  never  worthy,  and  no  longer  serviceable. 
But  until  then,  we  may  quietly  endeavor  to  proceed 


CONCLUSION. 


369 


as  rational  beings  upon  rational  considerations.  If 
these  principles  have  not  uniformly  guided  me  in 
the  composition  of  the  essays  I  am  now  bringing 
to  a  close  (on  which  it  is  not  for  me  to  judge)  at 
least  I  can  say  that  there  has  not  been  in  any  in- 
stance, even  by  a  hair's-breadth,  an  intentional 
deviation  from  them. 

The  fact,  however,  of  a  strong  and  widespread 
negative  movement  among  important  and  active 
sections  of  our  countrymen  during  the  latter  por- 
tion of  this  century,  is  admitted ;  and  now  I  propose 
to  offer  some  remarks  upon  its  alleged  or  probable 
causes. 

I  shall  speak,  first,  of  the  detriment  which  reli- 
gion is  supposed  by  some  to  have  suffered  through 
the  great  and  wonderful  advance  both  of  science 
and  of  rational  speculation,  mostly  physical,  but 
also  critical,  archaeological,  and  historical. 

Secondly,  of  the  detriment  it  has  really  suffered 
through  the  exposure  to  the  world  of  erroneous 
notions  about  religion,  which  are  due  to  believers 

themselves  :  a  detriment  attending,  in  different  man- 

24 


370 


CONCLUSION. 


ners  and  degrees,  either  the  retention,  or  even  the 
abandonment  of  these  opinions.  Such  detriment 
seems  to  me  certain  to  ensue,  when  we  uplift  into 
tlie  region  of  dogmatic  truth  (for  example)  such 
propositions  as  the  following  :  i.  That  the  material 
volume  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  translated  into  our 
tongue,  with  every  fact  and  sentiment  it  contains, 
must  be  received  under  the  same  (so  to  call  it) 
materialized  conception,  as  that  under  which  Ma- 
hometans are  supposed  to  receive  the  Koran,  and 
held  absolutely  true ;  or  2,  that  there  is  no  pro- 
gression or  distinction  in  the  inspiration  to  which 
it  is  to  be  referred  ;  or  3,  that  the  Adam  portrayed 
ia  Scripture  was  the  exclusive  source  of  the  race ; 
or  4,  that  he  was  furnished  with  large  intellectual 
development  and  endowment. 

Thirdly,  I  shall  speak  of  the  strength  which  the 
negative  movement  has  in  my  opinion  derived  from 
causes  greatly  and  subtly  effective,  yet  wholly  ex- 
trinsic to  itself;  causes,  which  I  take  to  constitute 
its  principal  strength. 

Of  the  first  head  I  might  dispose  very  briefly.     I 


CONCLUSION. 


371 


I 


i 


have  enumerated  some  of  the  great  services  which 
science  has  Rendered,  and  is  rendering,  to  religion. 
Of  the  damage  it  has  inflicted  I  have  heard  much  ; 
but  the  allegations  commonly  appear  to  me  upon 
examination  to  be  found  untrue :   in  some  cases, 
like  that  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  to  be  not 
only  untrue  but  the  logical  contradictory  of  the 
truth,  inasmuch  as  science,  when  just  principles  of 
interpretation  are  called  in,  is  found  to  have  estab- 
lished what  it  has  been  charged  with  destroying. 

The  nearest  semblance,  that  has  attracted  my 
notice,  to  palpable  contradiction  between  modern 
science  and  Holy  Writ  is  upon  the  statement  that 
sin  brought  death  into  the  world,  whereas  we  now 
know  that  death  was  antecedent  to  the  introduction 
of  man,  and  therefore  of  sin.     But  in  Scripture,  be- 
yond all  dispute,  the  word  "  death  "  has  many  senses. 
For  example,  it   means   habitually,  severance  of 
spirit  from  body.     It  means  separation  from  God, 
and  domination  of  body  over  spirit  (Luke  i  :  79 ; 
John  8:51;  Eph.  2:1).     It  means  reunion  with 
God,  and  domination  of  spirit  over  body  (Col.  2  : 


372 


CONCLUSION, 


20;3  :  3  ;  2  Tim.  2:11).     As  it  means  the  soul's 
disease,  severance  from  God,  so  also  it  means  the 
final  consummation  of  that  disease  in  the  second 
death.     These   are   various   senses    of   the   term, 
covering  a  very  wide  range,  and  dispersed  about 
the  Bible.     How  do  we  know  that  St.  Paul  used 
the  words  in  the  first  of  these  and  not  in  the  sec- 
ond ?     And  if  he  had  used  it  in  the  first  sense,  and 
had  intended  to  declare  that  there  was  no  physical 
death  before  the  sin  of  Adam,  how  much  would 
this  prove  ?     Only  that  the  apostle  was  ignorant 
of  any  pre-Adamite  history  of  the  planet,  and  that 
we  should  have  to  ask  whether  such  ignorance, 
when  proved,  would  destroy  or  impair  the  over- 
flowing proofs  that  he  was  commissioned  of  God 
to  speak,  and  was  taught  of  God  how  to  speak,  for 
the  salvation  of  the  world  ? 

It  remains,  however,  a  vital  portion  of  our  duty, 
on  the  one  hand,  to  estimate  and  to  measure  aright 
the  differences  between  the  divine  revelation  in  it- 
self, and  the  subjective  conceptions,  whether  aflfirm- 
ative  or  negative,  which  may  be  entertained  and 


CONCLUSION 


373 


propagated  concerning  it ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  inquire  pretty  stricdy  whether  the  professors  of 
science  are  sometimes  apt  to  push  their  legitimate 
authority  beyond  their  own  bounds  into  provinces 
where  it  becomes  a  usurpation,  and  whether  the 
weapons  which  they  hurl,  are  then  always  "weapons 
of  precision." 

On  the  first  of  these  two  points,  I  will  give  an 
illustration  of  my  meaning  from  the  latest  writings 
of  the  Achilles  of  the  opposing  army.     In  a  very 
recent  article,  which  deals  chiefly  with  the  Deluge,^ 
Mr.  Huxley,  in  a  succinct  but  decided  way,  admin- 
isters capital  punishment  also  to  the  Creation  Story 
of  Genesis.     He  does  not  enter  much  into  partic- 
ulars, but  he  says  the  Israelites  were  like  all  other 
men,  curious  to  know  their  origin.     Now,  so  far  as 
the  records  of  the  past  go,  the  cosmological  curi- 
osity of  the  ancients  appears  to  have  been  compara- 
tively small.     The   cosmologies   of  Babylon   and 
Egypt  hold  an  utterly  insignificant  place  in  their 
systems  of  knowledge.     The  Greeks,  perhaps  the 

»  Nineteenth  Century,  July.  1890,  p.  21. 


374 


CONCLUSION. 


most  inquisitive  of  men,  cared  little  or  nothing  for 
these  things,  through  many  centuries  after  they  had 
felt  the  passion  of  high  poetry  and  of  the  legends 
associated  with  it ;  and  when  their  schools  of  phi- 
losophy arose,  they  dealt,  and  this  only  in  outline, 
with  the  origin  of  material  things,  rather  than  of 
men.     There  was  no  nation,  I  believe,  except  the 
Israelites,  whose  cosmology  held  a  classical  place 
in  their  memory  and  in  their  devotions.     But  I  am 
perhaps  wrong  in  arguing  the  question.     What  I 
ought  rather  to  point  out  is  that  while  Professor 
Huxley  is  fond,  as  he  well  may  be,  of  claiming  to 
represent  science,  his  dictum  is  entirely  outside  the 
sciences  he  represents. 

Again,  in  the  same  short  space  he  proceeds  to 
lay  it  down  that  an  opinion  given  by  Dr.  Riehm  on 
the  subject  of  the  seven  Mosaic  days  (/.  r.,  that  they 
are  natural  days)  should  be  final.  We  claim,  how- 
ever, to  be,  if  not  Freethinkers,  yet  free  thinkers. 
Why  are  we  to  renounce  the  faculty  of  discourse, 
to  square  our  minds  to  those  of  Dr.  Riehm,  to  let 
him  do  the  thinking  for  us,  and  to  accept  his  words 


CONCLUSION. 


375 


as  "final "?     Simply  because  Mr.  Huxley  has  said 
so.     What  right  has  Professor  Huxley  to  close  this 
question  ?     For  the  question  whether  the  Creation 
Story  of  Genesis  describes  solar  days  or  not  is  no 
more  a  scientific  question,  than  whether  Parliament 
should  or  should  not  meet  in  November,  or  whether 
Shakespeare  wrote  or  did  not  write  the  whole  of 
"  Henry  VIH."     The  assertion  by  a  great  scientist 
that  no  one  is  entided,  now  that  "  Dr.  Riehm  "  has 
spoken,  further  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  Mosaic 
days,  in  the  first  place  carries  the  claims  of  author- 
ity beyond  the  bounds  of  reason ;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  carries  paradox  almost  to  a  point  at  which 
it  assumes  a  comic  aspect. 

But  I  have  now  to  ask  whether  the  weapons  used 
by  this  most  distinguished  scientist  are  always 
"weapons  of  precision"?  On  scientific  grounds 
he  condemns,  as  we  have  seen,  the  narrative  of  the 
Deluge,  and  pronounces  it  to  be  fabulous.  One  of 
his  reasons  is  this.  The  Mosaic  account  assigns  a 
period  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  days  (the  tablets 
give  only  seven)  for  the  subsidence  of  the  waters. 


3;6 


CONCLUSION, 


CONCLUSION. 


Against  this   statement   Mr.    Huxley  advances  a 
dictum,  of  which  the  subject-matter  is  unquestion- 
ably scientific.     He  gives  the  length  of  the  Meso- 
potamian  plain »  at  three  to  four  hundred  miles, 
and  the  elevation  of  the  higher  end  at  ^v^  to  six 
hundred  feet.     Had  this  plain  been  so  covered  with 
water,  says  Mr.  Huxley,  a  '^furious  torrent"  would 
have  rushed  downwards,  and  instead  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  days  the  plain  generally  (this  word  no 
doubt  is  meant  to  except  particular   hollows  of 
the  ground)  would  have  been  left  bare  in  a  very 
few  hours. 

Let  us  try  this  question  a  little  more  nearly.     If 
the  length  of  the  plain  be  350  miles,  and  the  fall 
525  feet,  we  have  a  descent  of  one  foot  and  a  half 
per   mile;   and   this   descent,  says   the   Professor, 
would  cause  a  furious  torrent,  such  as  would  clear 
the  plain  in  a  very  few   hours.     Let   us   assume 
twenty  miles  an  hour  as  the  rate  of  the  "  furious 
torrent;"  on  which  assumption,  the  plain  would  be 
bare  in  seventeen  and  a  half  hours.     I  take  these 

>  Nineteenth  Century.  July,  1890,  p.  15. 


177 


rates  and  figures  so  as  to  translate  approximately 
into  definite  quantities  Mr.  Huxley's  more  general 
expressions. 

One  foot  and  a  half  per  mile  represents  a  gradi- 
ent of  ^(T.     I  have  sought  information  on  this 
subject  from  an  engineer,  who  is  in  charge  of  a 
portion  of  one  of  our  British  rivers.     I  understand 
from  him  that  a  fall  of  one  in  three  thousand  four 
hundred   and   twenty  would  probably  produce  a 
current  of  about  two  miles  an  hour.     It  may  require 
all  Professor  Huxley's  resources  to  show  that  a 
current  of  two  miles  an  hour  is  a  "  furious  torrent ; " 
or  that  to  represent  as  a  furious  torrent  what  is  m 
truth  an  extremely  slow  stream  is  to  use  a  "  weapon 
of  precision." 

My  informant,  indeed,  adds  that  each  case  has 
modifying  circumstances  of  its  own,  and  must  be 
judged  by  itself;  but  he  likewise  tells  me  that  if, 
instead  of  trying  the  matter  by  an  ordinary  English 
river,  we  remove  the  banks,  and  suppose  the  stream 
indefinitely  widened,  the  fall  remaining  the  same, 
the  rate  of  the  current  would  be  not  increased  but 


378 


CONCLUSION, 


slackened.  Thus  we  seem  to  get  farther  and  farther 
from  the  "  weapons  of  precision."  And  it  seems 
Just  possible  that,  after  all,  these  weapons  may, 
like  our  monster  guns,  sometimes  damage  those 
who  handle  them,  or  may  fail  to  batter  down  so 
soon  as  is  expected  the  undoubtedly  ancient  walls 
of  the  fortress  of  belief.^ 

The  case,  to  which  I  have  last  referred,  is  one  of 
elementary  hydraulics.  The  obligation  to  be  pre- 
cise may  be  thought  to  rise  with  the  elevation  of 
the  subject.  If  we  may  not  ask  from  the  scientific 
man  that  when  he  touches  questions  of  the  inner- 
most feelings  of  believers,  and  of  the  highest  des- 
tinies of  man,  he  should  be  reverent,  yet  surely  we 
are  entitled  to  require  of  him  that  he  should  be 
circumspect;  that  he  should  take  reasonable  care 
to  include  in  his  survey  of  a  case  all  elements 
which  are  obviously  essential  to  a  right  judgment 
upon  it. 

*It  is  not  without  a  minor  interest  to  remark  that,  on  the  data  before 
us,  the  time  required  for  clearing  the  plain  would  be  about  162  hours, 
or  nearly  seven  days,  the  actual  time  mentioned  in  the  Babylonian 
account. 


CONCL  US  ION 


379 


In    another    recent    article,*    Mr.   Huxley   has 
touched  very  lofty  ground  indeed.     He  selects  as 
a  crucial  instance  for  the  trial  of  the  Gospels,  to 
which  we  owe  our  knowledge  of  the  character  of 
our  Lord,  the  miracle  which  happened  in  the  coun- 
try of  the  Gergesenes,  or  Gadarenes.      It  is  nar- 
rated, with  certain  variations,  by  three  Evangelists ; 
the  essential  point  being,  that  evil  spirits,  cast  out 
from  the  body  of  a  demoniac,  are  permitted  to 
enter  into  a  herd  of  swine,  and  that  the  animals  so 
possessed  rush  furiously  into  the  sea.    Mr.  Huxley, 
as  a  physiologist,  disbelieves  in  demoniacal  posses- 
sion;   and  that  is  the  point  that   has  commonly 
attracted  the  chief  share  of  attention  in  connection 
with  this  miracle.     Such  a  physiological  judgment 
it  is  not  for  me  to  discuss.     But  he  also  very  prop- 
erly touches  the  question  of  the  injury  inflicted  by 
the  destruction  of  the  swine,  which  was  due  to  our 
Lord's  permission.     Mr.  Huxley  observes  that  the 
Evangelist  has  no  "  inkling  of  the  legal  and  moral 
difficulties  of  the  case,"  and  adds,  the  devils  entered 

*  Nineteenth  Century,  February,  1889,  PP*  171 1 172. 


38o 


CONCLUSION, 


into  the  swine  "  to  the  great  loss  and  damage  of  the 
innocent  Gerasene  or  Gadarene  pig-owners."  Fur- 
ther, "  everything  that  I  know  of  law  and  justice  con- 
vinces me  that  the  wanton  destruction  of  other  peo- 
ple's property  is  a  misdemeanor  of  evil  example." 

So  then,  after  eighteen  centuries  of  worship 
offered  to  our  Lord  by  the  most  cultivated,  the 
most  developed,  and  the  most  progressive,  portion 
of  the  human  race,  it  has  been  reserved  to  a  scien- 
tific inquirer  to  discover  that  three  of  the  four  wri- 
ters, through  whom  his  life  has  been  recorded  for 
us,  formally  assign  to  him  acts  which  make  him  no 
better  than  a  law-breaker  and  an  evil-doer.  If  the 
feelings  of  Christians  have  been  wounded  by  this 
assertion  made,  in  order  to  establish  a  proposition 
of  enormous  importance  which  has  been  concealed 
for  eighteen  hundred  years,  it  was  right  that  they 
should  suffer,  and  they  ought  to  thank  Professor 
Huxley  as  the  great  discoverer.  But  if  there  was 
no  law-breaking  and  no  evil-doing  in  the  case  as  it 
stands  recorded,  what  are  we  to  say  either  of  the 
Professor's  tenderness  in  dealing  with  the  inmost 


CONCLUSION. 


381 


hearts  of  his  fellow-creatures,  or,  and  more  espe- 
cially, of  the  temper  and  weight  of  his  "weapons 
of  precision"? 

Simple  as  it  has  been  from  this  point  of  view, 
the  case  (Matt.  8  :  30;  Mark  5:2;  Luke  8  :  3 1)  is  to 
a  reflective  mind  a  very  peculiar  one.  It  offers 
the  only  occasion  on  which  our  Lord  exercised, 
or  co-operated  in  the  exercise  of,  preternatural 
power  for  the  destruction  of  life. 

It  is  observable  that  in  certain  instances,  such  as 
that  of  the  fig-tree,  and  of  the  ass  with  her  colt,  he 
seems  to  assert  himself  as  the  universal  owner.     He 
is  the  Lord  to  kill,  as  well  as  to  make  alive,  accord- 
ing to  his  wisdom.     But  this  consideration,  to  what- 
ever conclusion  it  might  lead,  is  of  what  may  be 
termed  an  esoteric  nature,  and  is  hardly  suited  to 
an  argument  against  the  negative  school,  who  are 
plainly  entided  to  raise  the  question  of  the  swine 
as  it  affects   the   rights  of  property.     Why,  then, 
does  our  Lord  in  this  instance  see  cause  to  vary 
from  the  philanthropic  and  beneficent  tendencies, 
which  usually  mark   his   miraculous    agency  ?     It 


332 


CONCLUSION. 


has    been    observed   that   the    entrance    into    the 
swine  may  have  been  permitted,  in  order  to  cer- 
tify the  relieved  man,  or  men,  of  the  reality  of  the 
great  and  hardly  credible  deliverance  vouchsafed  in 
their  persons  to  human  suffering.     And  again,  that 
the  willing  departure  of  the  demons  may  have  spared 
the  victim  or  victims  from  the  tortures,  which  it 
is  natural  to  suppose  would  have  attended    their 
violent  ejection.      Yet  something  more   seems  to 
be  desirable  in   order   to  meet  the  question  that 
has  just  been  raised.      I  find  the  answer  to  it  in 
the  reasonable,  and  (as  it  seems  to    me)   almost 
necessary  supposition,  that  the  possession  of  the 
swine  was  unlawful,  and,  therefore,  was  jusdy  pun- 
ishable by  the  ensuing  loss. 

The  scene  is  described  by  different  Evangelists 
in  different  terms.  It  is  the  country  of  the  Ger- 
gesenes,  or  the  country  of  the  Gadarenes.  The 
distinction  is  immaterial  to  the  present  purpose. 
It  was  apparendy  part  of  the  land  of  the  Girga- 
shites  (Deut.  7:1),  one  of  the  seven  Canaanitish 
nations,  and  was  subject,  therefore,  as  a  matter  of 


CONCLUSION. 


383 


religious  obligation,  to  the  Mosaic  law.     Now  that 
law  contained  a  prohibition  to  use  various  meats, 
among  which  pork  was  included.     But  in  the  case 
of  swine  the  law  went  farther  than  in  other  cases, 
and  it  was  forbidden  even  to  touch  the  carcass 
(Lev.  11:7,  8).     Such  a  prohibition  of  course  pre- 
cluded all  use  whatever  of  the  animals  when  dead; 
and  it  was  only  for  use  when  dead  that  there  could 
be  any  object  in  keeping  them  at  all.     Nor  was 
this  prohibition   merely  ceremonial.      It  was  im- 
mediately related  to  the  health  of  the  people,  as 
the  use  of  pork  (I  am  informed)  is  apt  to  produce, 
especially  in  hot  climates,  the  disease  called  trichi- 
nosis, and  I  understand  that  the  veto  is  down  to 
this   day   regarded   by  well-informed  Jews  as  of 
a  more  than  ceremonial  importance;    while  it  is 
direcdy  connected  with  a  high  sanitary  condition. 
It  may  be  that  the  deeper  counsels  of  Providence 
are  more  implicated  in  this  prohibidon,  than  even 
a  less  superficial  reader  of  the  Gospels  than  Pro- 
fessor Huxley  might  at  first  sight  suppose.     That 
calHng  of  the  Hebrew  people,  which  is  set  before 


384 


CONCLUSION. 


us  in  the  Old  Testament,  demanded  in  them  above 
and  beyond  all  other  qualities  the  quality  of  per- 
sistence.    It  may  be  that  this  purpose  required  the 
constitution  of  the  race  in  body  as  well  as  in  many 
pomts  of  character  to  be  raised  to  a  point  unusually 
h'gh.    We  know  that  man  is  a  compound  being 
and  we  know  that  the  Mosaic  code  took  cognizance' 
of  bodily  health  to  an  extent  quite  unknown  in 
other  schemes  of  legislation.     In   the   Book  of 
Exodus  (r  :  19).  reference  was  made  to  the  superior 
formation  of  the  Hebrew   women   for   the   great 
office  of  a  mother,  and  I  am  informed  that  the 
modern  researches  of  anatomists,  supporting  the 
text,  refer  the  fact  to  a  physical  cause.     I  have 
learned  enough  from  some  high  medical  authorities 
to  be  warranted  in  saying  that  the  sanitao^  qualities 
of  the  Jewish  race,  even  in  our  own  time,  and  their 
superior  longevity,  appear  in  no  small  manner  to 
be  due  to  the  strict  observance  of  the  Mosaic  law 
These    remarks   may    be    justifiable    in    connec- 
tion with  what  I  have  said  of  the  description  of 
authority,  which  they  attach  to  a  particular  pro- 


' 


CONCLUSION. 


3^5 


hibition.  Yet.  for  the  immediate  purpose  of  the 
argument,  it  may  suffice  to  have  pointed  out  the 
illegality  of  keeping  swine. 

Mr.  Huxley,  exercising  his  rapid  judgment  on 
the  text,  does   not  appear  to   have  encumbered 
himself  with  the  labor  of  inquiring  what  anybody 
else  had  known  or  said  about  it.     He  has  thus 
missed  a  point  which  might  have  been  set  up  in 
support  of  his  accusation  against  our  Lord.    Some 
commentators  have  alleged  the  authority  of  Jose- 
phus  for  stating  that  Gadara  was  a  city  of  Greeks 
rather  than   of  Jews,   from  whence   it   might   be 
inferred   that   to   keep   swine  was    innocent   and 
lawful.     This  is  not  quite  the  place  for  a  critical 
examination  of  the  matter;  but  I  have  examined 
It,  and  have  satisfied  myself  that  Josephus  gives  no 
reason  whatever  to  suppose  that  the  population  of 
Gadara,  still  less  (if  less  may  be)  the  population  of 
the  neighborhood,  and  least  of  all  the  swine-herdin<. 
or  lower 'portion  of  that  population,  were  other 

>  It  is  clear  .ha.  such  people  could  not  be  the  owners  of  ^  swine 
But  (.)  .his.is  stated  in  S..  Mark  only;  (.)  i,  is  s.a.ed  in  a  parenthesis' 

25 


386 


CONCLUSION. 


than  Hebrews,  bound  by  the  Mosaic  law.  Now, 
this  being  the  case,  the  punishment  inflicted  upon 
the  owners  of  the  swine  by  the  permission  of  our 
Lord  did  not  constitute  a  breach,  but  rather  a 
vindication  of  the  law;  as  a  law  would  be  vindi- 
cated if  casks  of  smuggled  spirits  were  caught  and 
broken  open  after  landing,  and  their  contents 
wasted  on  the  ground.^ 

Surely  if  these  were  only  possibilities,  instead  of 
being,  as  they  are,  rather  cogent  likelihoods,  they 
should  have  been  examined  and  weighed  before 
pronouncing  sentence  on  a  threefold  record  which 
is,  in  the  eyes  of  Christendom,  a  very  sacred  record. 
Its  authors  could  not  but  know  how  peculiar  was 
this  portion  of  their  narrative,  in  which  they  ascribe 
to  tie  Lamb  of  God  an  undoubted  deviation  from 

whereas  it  would  naturally  appear  in  the  direct  narrative ;  (3)  so  large 
a  numeral  suggests  the  error  of  a  copyist  or  very  possibly  a  marginal 
gloss,  which  afterwards  crept  into  the  text. 

*  For  the  further  elucidation  of  this  important  case,  I  have  added  a 
note  at  the  end.  [Now  altered  and  enlarged,  in  consequence  of  a 
defense  of  his  position  attempted  by  Professor  Huxley  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  for  December,  1890.] 


CONCLUSION. 


1^7 


His  usually  beneficent  and  gentle  methods.  And, 
again,  such  hand-over-head  reasoning  is  hard  to 
reconcile  either  with  the  judicial  temper,  or  with 
the  claim,  nay  the  exclusive  claim,  to  the  honor  of 
using  "  weapons  of  precision." 

There  is  yet  another  point  of  great  importance,  in 
regard  to  which  I  desire  to  challenge  the  methods 
pursued  by  some  critics  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ; 
and  I  cannot  do  better  than  again  proceed  on  the 
recent  article  of  Professor  Huxley.     He  finds,  on 
the  one  hand,  a  vast  mass  of  diversified  tradition, 
which  agrees  in  reporting  a  Flood.     He  finds  that, 
as  we  draw  near  to  that  central  seat  of  civilization 
in  Chaldaea,  from  which  Abraham  probably  carried 
the  Hebrew  narrative,  it  unfolds  itself  largely  into 
detail,  and  that  the  tradition,  which  thus  travelled 
w^estwards,  is  supported  in  many  very  remarkable 
particulars  by  the  history  which  has  been  recorded 
in  the  tablets.     Detecting,  however,  in  the  Mosaic 
story,  various  statements,  which  he  deems  to  be  irre- 
concilable with  natural  laws,  he  protests,  not  against 
those  particular  statements,  but  against  the  entire 


388 


CONCLUSION. 


relation ;  and  he  casts  aside  without  more  ado,  not 
only  the  whole  tale  as  it  is  given  in  Genesis,  but 
the  large  mass  of  collateral  testimony,  from  every 
quarter  of  the  globe,  which  supports  it.  Is  this  a 
scientific,  is  it  a  philosophical,  is  it  altogether  a 
rational  method  of  proceeding? 

Errors,  and  even  great  errors,  may  creep  into  a 
true  narration.  This  is  a  case  where  the  tale  had, 
according  to  all  appearances,  been  carried  onward 
orally  for  ages,  perhaps  for  very  many  ages,  before 
the  race  that  have  transmitted  it  to  us  had  the 
means  of  giving  it  a  written  form.  Was  it  not 
likely  that  some,  perhaps  even  that  much,  variation 
of  particulars  would  creep  in  ?  Could  they  be  shut 
out  except  by  miracle,  and  has  the  Christian 
Church  ever  taught  us  to  believe  in  such  a  miracle? 
Is  it  not  the  fact  that,  as  between  the  Chaldee  and 
the  Hebrew  reports,  the  essence  of  the  story  re- 
mains in  absolute  integrity?  A  divine  warning,  a 
woful  prevalence  of  sin,  a  terrible  inundation  or 
deluge  as  a  punishment,  the  rescue  of  a  small  and 
righteous  remnant;  not  only  do  these  things  remain. 


,  CONCLUSION 


389 


but  traditions  supporting  them  in  several  or  in  all 
points  have  descended  to  us  independently  through 
a  hundred  channels;  and  we  are  now  asked  to 
believe  that,  in  each  of  these,  imagination,  and 
imagination  only,  has  been  at  work,  and  that  in 
each  of  them  it  has  worked  with  an  essentially 
(though  not  circumstantially)  identical  result?  May 
not  this  be  to  substitute  for  a  great  physical  a 
greater  moral  miracle,  and  are  we  not  even  in  some 
danger  of  exchanging  the  unaccountable  for  the 
absurd  ? 

My  conclusion,  then,  upon  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject, be  it  worth  much  or  little,  is  threefold.  I  am 
grateful  to  science,  both  physical  and  historical,  for 
the  noble  services  it  has  rendered  to  belief  by  the 
establishment  of  truths,  or  by  the  rational  accept- 
ance of  propositions,  in  its  own  domain.  I  feel  that 
science  is  not  responsible  for  any  errors  of  scientists, 
either  in  the  misconstruction  of  the  Bible,  or  in 
offenses  which  their  share  of  human  frailty  may 
have  led  them  occasionally  to  commit  against  the 
known  laws  of  rational  discussion.     And,  lastly. 


*'"* 


390 


CONCLUSTON, 


CONCLUSION, 


391 


I  am  grateful  both  to  science  and  to  scientists  for 
having  assisted,  or  for  having  compelled,  those  who 
bdieve,  to  correct  errors  which,  in  the  wantonness 
of  power,  they  may  carelessly,  or  even  insolently, 
have  cherished,  and  to  submit  all  their  claims  to 
free  and  critical  investigation. 

The  retreat  from  an  untenable  to  a  tenable  posi- 
tion is  in  itself  an  unmixed  good.     We  feel  that 
we  have  redressed  a  wrong  which  had  been  done 
to  truth;  and  we  breathe  the  more  freely  for  the 
act.     Still  there  is  a  retribution  in  store  for  error; 
and,  given  all  the   conditions   of  human   feeling' 
thought,  and  action,  this  recession  is  an  operation 
of  invariable  danger,  and,  for  the  time  at  least,  of 
mixed  result.     Happy  they  who  accu/ately  know, 
and  who  exactly  realize  to  themselves,  in  the  prac-' 
tical  part  of  their  being,  what  it  is  that  they  ought 
to  abandon  and  what  to  retain,  nor  only  to  retain, 
but  to  uphold  with  a  determination  enhanced  in 
proportion  to  the  difficulties  of  the  day.     But  in 
the  minds  of  many,  perhaps  of  the  greater  part,  the 
dominant  sense,  at  least  for  a  time,  will  be  that 


they  have  passed  from  a  ground  old  and  familiar 
to  one  new  and  strange;   that  they  have   parted 
with    something,  they  do    not    quite    know   how 
much;  that  if  they  have  been  wrong  once,  they 
may,  perhaps,  be  wrong  again.     And  then  it  is  so 
much  easier  to  believe  in  a  volume,  which  the  hand 
could  grasp,  than   to   hold   fast  the  mental  con- 
ception of  a  revelation  conveyed  in  that  volume. 
True,  such  a  conception  of  God  in  the  Bible,  which 
may  be,  but  ought  not  to  have  been,  a  new  one,  is 
strictly  and  solidly  analogous  to  the  familiar,  and 
equally  indispensable,  conceptions  of  God  in  Nature, 
God  in  Providence,  God  in  the  Christian  Church. 
But  these  we  had  from  our  cradles ;  they  were  thor- 
oughly congenial  through  use.     To  apply  the  same 
rule  to  the  Bible  is  really  to  integrate,  rather  than 
to  disintegrate,  the  idea  of  our  knowledge  of  God. 
But  there  is  something  like  the  discomfort  of  a  new 
habiliment  to  be  got  over ;  and  there  are  the  ready, 
sometimes   perhaps  the  too  ready,  taunts  of  the 
adversary  to  be  endured. 

I  will  not  dwell  at  large  upon  other  difficulties 


392 


CONCLUSION, 


springing  from  the  errors  or  the  incaution  of  be- 
lievers ;  but  they  are  grave  in  their  nature.    When- 
ever, under  the  idea  of  magnifying  the  grace  or 
favor   of  God,  we    derogate    from  his  immutable 
righteousness  and  justice;  and  whenever,  in  exalt- 
ing the  unspeakable  mercy  of  his  pardon,  we  un- 
hinge its  inseparable  alliance  with  a  profound  and 
penetrating  moral  work  in  the  creature  pardoned : 
then  we  draw  down  dangers   upon  the  Christian 
system  greater  far  than  can  ever  be  entailed  upon 
it  by  its  enemies.     But  there  may  be  worse  still 
than  this.     Worse  there  will  be,  if  the  believer  in 
Christ  holds  the  doctrine  without  gWmg  effect  to  it 
in  his  life;  and  worst  of  all,  if  while  he  holds  it  he 
not  only  is  betrayed  into  the  ordinary  weaknesses 
or  excesses  of  human  nature,  but  forgets  also,  and 
derides  or  disregards,  those   primal   sanctions    of 
natural  morality,  which  even  habitual  vice  is  not 
always  hardened  enough  to  discard.     The  constitu- 
tion of  the  family,  the  ties  between  its  members, 
the  nature  of  the  woman  and  of  the  man,  and  the 
relation  of  each   one  of  them  to  himself,  to  that 


CONCLUSION. 


393 


SELF,  which  is  entrusted  by  God  to  every  one  of 
us  to  study  and  to  revere,  as  well  as  to  cleanse  to 
cherish,  and  to  sanctify;  all  these  are  regulated'by 
laws  the  oldest,  holiest,  and  most  profound  of  all 
Progress  may  be  traced  and  tested  by  the  regard 
it  pays  to  these  sacrosanct,  though  unwritten,  ordi- 
nances.    According  as  such   regard  is  paid' or  is' 
withheld,  we  shall  know  whether  such  progress  be 
a  reality  or  an  imposture;  and    Christianity  itself 
would  lose  all  its  titles  were  it  capable  of  an  at- 
tempt to  disturb  divine  laws  older  than  itself  and 
forming   the    bed   in    which    its    foundation-stone 
was  laid. 

In  the  classes  of  difficulties  thus  roughly  sug- 
gested there  has  subsisted,  as  I  believe,  not,  indeed, 
a  legitimate,  but  a  powerfully  operative,  cause  for 
the  increase  of  scepticism. 

But  the  gravest  portion  of  the  case  remains. 
Negation  is  in  part,  and  it  professes  and  believes 
itself  to  be  altogether,  an  affair  of  the  intellect.  It 
proclaims,  for  example,  that  the  reason  why  un- 
belief has  (at  the  moment)  so  much  advanced,  is 


394 


CONCLUSION, 


that  dogmas  like  those  of  the  Trinity,  the  Incar- 
nation,  the  Sacraments,  and  the  future  Judgment, 
have  become  insufferable  to  the  cultivated  human 
understanding.     The  conviction   which   possesses 
my  mind,  and  which  I  may  find  it  difficult  to  ex- 
press in  an  unexceptionable   manner,  is  that  the 
main   operative  cause   which   has   stimulated   the 
growth  of  modern  negation  is  not  intellectual  but 
moral ;  and  \?^  to  be  found  in  the  increased  and 
increasing  dominion  of  the  things  seen  over  the 
things  unseen.^ 

Such  a  proposition  may  at  first  sight  appear  to 
carry  an  odious  meaning,  pharisaical  in  the  worst 
sense  of  the  word ;  a  meaning  which  would  pro- 
voke, and  might  justify,  an  angry  reply.  It  might 
be  interpreted  as  implying  that  the  elevation  of 
moral    character   in   individuals   varied   with   and 

»  In  a  work  of  great  ability  just  issued,  and  termed  "Scientific 
Theology."  Mr.  Barber,  a  civil  engineer,  treats  (Chap.  III.,  p.  41)  the 
question.  "  Why  does  not  religion  reach  the  masses  ?  "  His  conclu- 
sion is  stated  thus :  "  The  weak  point  is  clearly  the  loss  of  spiritual 
motive,  and  increased  strength  of  natural  motives  as  springs  of  action 
and  thought."     Who  will  answer  Mr.  Barber? 


CONCLUSION. 


395 


according  to  the  amount  of  their  dogmatic  belief; 
a  proposition  which  in  my  view  is  untrue,  offensive, 
and  even  absurd.     Had  I  ever  been  inclined  to  such 
a  conception,  the  experience,  sometimes  the  very 
sad  experience,  of  my  life,  would  long  ago  have 
undeceived  me.     My  meaning  is  a  very  different 
one.     I  speak  of  that  which  touches  not  this  or  that 
man  only,  but  us  all.     We  have  altered  the  standard 
of  wants;   we   have    multiplied   the   demands   of 
appetite ;  we  have  established  a  new  state  of  social 
tradition,  of  that  tradition  which  forms  and  guides 
us,  apart   from   and   antecedently  to   thought   or 
choice  of  our  own.     We  have  created  a  new  atmos- 
phere, which  we  breathe   into   ourselves,  and  by 
breathing  which  our  composition  is  modified  un- 
awares, according  to  the  ingredients  which  that 
atmosphere  contains.     I  do  not  say  that  we  are  the 
creatures  of  what  surrounds  us,  for  we  have  power 
to  reflect  upon  and  to  control  it.     Yet,  reflection 
and  control  are  exercised  but  little,  in  comparison 
with   the  need  for  them ;  and,  in  the  absence  of 
such  exercise,  and  of  such  exercise  in  a  high  degree, 


396 


CONCLUSION. 


it  is  the  surrounding  atmosphere,  it  is  the  ordinary 
standard,  accepted,  and  to  a  great  extent  necessa- 
rily accepted,  without  examination,  that  both  sup- 
ph'es  the  stock  wherewith  we  individually  begin  the 
great  adventure  of  the  world,  and  that  guides  our 
life.     I  except  the  rare  cases,  where  depravity  on 
one  side,  or  Christian  heroism  on  the  other,  causes 
us  to  rise  or  fall  to  a  separate  standard  for  our- 
selves.    Where  both  control  and  reflection  range 
only  within  the  zone  marked  out  by  fashionable 
opinion,  it  is  sadly  easy  to  point  out  men  of  high 
virtue  with  little  creed,  and  men  of  low  virtue  with 
much  creed,  in  the  discipline  and  conduct  of  their 
personal  lives  respectively     And,  in  the  region  of 
opinion,  it  often   seems  as   if  liberty  and  justice 
among  men  fared  quite  as  well  with  the  heterodox, 
as  with  the  orthodox. 

A  large  part  of  these  grave  and  even  terrible 
anomalies  is  no  doubt  due  to  the  fact,  that  to  each 
of  us  personally  our  creed  has  come,  not  with  the 
throes  of  struggle,  sacrifice,  and  strong  conviction, 
but  rather,  like  most  of  what  we  hold— an  easy 


CONCLUSION. 


397 


tenure !— by  descent,  through  others,  not  from  our- 
selves;  as   matter   of  course,  not   of  choice  and 
effort ;  so  that  it  sits  upon  us  like  an  outward  badge, 
rather  than  pervades  us  as  a  principle  and  a  power. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  how  true  it  will  be  found 
that  the  sovereign  tradition,  which  has  filled  the  air, 
is  the  Christian  tradition.     This  it  is,  which  has 
made  possible  what  without  it  would  have  been 
wholly  beyond    reach.     This  it  is,  which   carries 
noiselessly  into  many  minds  and  characters  those 
opinions  on  behalf  of  virtue,  of  self-denial,  and  of 
philanthropy,  together  with  the  power  of  acting 
upon  them,  which  are  often  found  so  honorably  to 
distinguish  creedless  men.     Just  as  many,  who  do 
not  reject  Christianity,  know  not  why  or  how  they 
came  to  hold  it,  so  many,  who  have  abjured  Chris- 
tianity, know  not  that,  in  the  best  of  their  thought, 
their  nature,  and  their  practice,  they  are  appropri- 
ating its  fruits.    What  is  the  modern  word  altruism  ? 
As  to  its  meaning,  it  is  simply  the  second  great 
commandment  of  the   Christian   law,  which   was 
"  like  unto  the  first."     As  to  its  form,  it  is  merely 


398 


CONCLUSION, 


a  disguise  which  has  been  put  upon  a  borrowed 
idea,  so  that  it  often  fails  to  be  traced  to  its  true 
original.     And  this  not  by  a  conscious,  but,  if  the 
phrase  may  be  pardoned,  by  an  unconscious'  fraud. 
We  find  ourselves  in  possession  of  the  code  of 
Christian  ethics,  which  has  gradually  pervaded  life, 
institutions,  manners ;  and  which  has  become  so 
blended  with  our  ordinary' life  that  the  memory  of 
its  divine  origin  has  faded  away,  as  though  it  were 
like  the  title-deed  of  some  inheritance  which  we 
hold  by  unquestioned  use.     If  we  wish  to  know 
what  the  Christian  tradition  has  done  for  us,  we 
must  examine  the  moral  standard  of  nations  who 
have  differed  from  us  mainly  in  not  possessing  it. 
For  example,  we  must  look  to  the  Greeks  of  the 
fifth  century  before  Christ,  or  the  Romans  at  and 
after  the  period  of  the  Advent,  whose  moral  degra- 
dation  was  not  less  conspicuous  than  the  intellectual 
splendor  of  the  one,  or  the  constructive  political 
genius  of  the  other. 

My  twofold  proposition  is  that  we  have  before  us 
an  increased  power  of  things  seen,  and  that  this 


CONCLUSION 


399 


increased  power  implies,  as  matters  now  seem  to 
stand,  a  diminishing  hold  upon  us  of  things  unseen. 
The  question  is  no  new  one.  Throughout  the  his- 
tory of  mankind,  the  invisible,  and  the  future  which 
is  part  of  the  invisible,  have  been  in  standing  com- 
petition with  what  may  be  termed  the  things  of  this 
world. 

"  Two  magnets,  heaven  and  earth,  allure  to  bliss ; 
The  larger  loadstone  that,  the  nearer  this ; 
The  weak  attraction  of  the  greater  fails, 
We  nod  awhile,  but  neighborhood  prevails."^ 

There  has  never  been  a  time  in  human  history  to 
compare  with  the  last  half- century  in  two  vital 
respects :  the  multiplication  of  wealth,  and  the  mul- 
tiplication of  the  enjoyments  which  wealth  pro- 
cures: two  things  separate,  yet  concurrent,  and 
morally  allied  To  take  a  familiar  example :  men 
(and  the  commodities  they  depend  on)  now  travel 
at  (say)  one-fourth  of  the  former  cost,  just  when 
they  have  also  an  enlargement  of  their  means  to 
bear  the  charge  of  travelling. 

1  Dryden,  "  Hind  and  Panther,"  Part  III. 


400 


CONCLUSION, 


It  is  indeed  true  that  the  greater  part  of  the  human 
beings  who  constitute  the  community  have  not  yet 
attained  to  a  competent  and  secure  satisfaction  of 
the  primary  wants  of  Hfe.     But,  in  ascending  from 
the  lower  to  the  higher  conditions,  we'  soon  reach 
a  level  where  comforts  and  enjoyments  enter  seri- 
ously into  expenditure;  and  at  length  we  attain  a 
social  plane,  first  where  they  compete  with  actual 
needs  in  the  amount  of  attention  given  them,  then 
where  they  predominate,  and  at  last  where  they 
come  to  form  the  only  serious  object  of  habitual 
care.     This  is  the  region  described  in  the  Gospel 
as  that  of  "the  rich  man."     His  relative  condition 
varies  with  the  circumstances  of  different  periods. 
In  the  days  of  the  patriarchs,  the  living  of  the  rich 
man  differed  in  but  few  and  simple  particulars  from 
that  of  his  dependants.     But  as  life  and  the  works 
of  man  developed,  and   moreover    as    individual 
rights  have  obtained  fuller  acknowledgment,  the 
space,  which  separates  classes  in  respect  to  wants 
and  enjoyments,  has  been  greatly  widened.     Sense, 
appetite,  and  taste,  are  solicited  in  a  thousand  forms 


CONCLUSION 


401 


previously  unknown.  We  must  not  conceal  it  from 
ourselves  that  every  such  solicitation,  though  it  be 
so  frequent  as  to  be  almost  continuous,  is  a  new 
aggression  of  the  things  seen  upon  the  province  of 
the  things  unseen,  and  an  alteration  in  the  balance 
as  it  had  previously  been  cast  between  them. 

This  deep-rooted   and   far-reaching   change,  of 
which  as  yet  we  perhaps  see  only  the  beginning, 
has  gone,  to  an  immense  extent,  towards  the  cure 
of  actual  want,  and  towards  extending  the  sphere 
of  that  sufficiency,  that  modest  and  humble  com- 
fort, which  do  not  at  all  come  within  the  scope  of 
the  present  argument.     But  it  has  also  extended 
largely  to  the  spheres  of  leisure  and  of  compara- 
tive affluence;  and  in  those  spheres  it  is  generally 
true  that  the  apparatus  of  enjoyment  has  been  im- 
mensely developed  in  small  things  and  great,  and 
that  wants  and  appetites  have  grown  along  with  it. 
It  seems  to  me  undeniable,  if  "the  worid  was  too 
much  with  us"  when  Wordsworth  wrote  his  noble 
sonnet,  it  is  more,  much  more,  with  us,  and  with  a 

far  larger  number  of  us,  now  than  it  was  even  in 

26 


1 


402 


CONCLUSION. 


the  early  years  of  our  own  century.     Obviously, 
almost   mathematically,  the   increased   powers  of 
worldly  attraction  disturb  the  balance  of  our  con- 
dition, unless  and  until  they  are  countervailed  by 
increased  powers  of  unworldly  attraction  and  eleva- 
tion.    Whence  are  such  compensating  powers  to 
be  had?    I  am  afraid  we  can  hardly  say  that,  in  the 
spheres  now  under  view,  there  has  been  such  a 
growth  in  unworldly  motives  and  ideas,  as  to  coun- 
tervail  the  augmented  strength  of  worldly  attach- 
ment.    And  I  apprehend  that,  if  the  unseen  world 
and  the  ideas  belonging  to  it  operate  upon  us  with 
a  proportionately  diminished  force,  it  follows,  almost 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  creeds,  which  belong  to 
that  circle  of  unseen  associations,  will,  so  far,  be 
more  dimly  and  therefore  more  feebly  appreciated. 
Materialism  as  a  formulated  system  is  probably  not 
upon  the  increase.    Those  who  think,  as  I  am  com- 
pelled to  think,  about  the  intellectual  calibre  and 
capabilities  of  such  a  system,  will  hardly  include 
such  a  growth  among  the  objects  of  their  appre- 
hension.    But  the   power  of  a  silent,   unavowed. 


CONCLUSION 


403 


unconscious    materialism,    not    philosophical    but 
wholly  practical,  is  a  very  different  matter.    I  think 
Professor  Max  Muller  has  said  that  without  lan- 
guage there  cannot  be  thought.     And  this  I  sup- 
pose is  true  of  all  organized  and  conscious  thought. 
But  there  are  in  human  nature  a  multitude  of  unde- 
veloped (so  to  speak)  embryonic  forces,  of  impres- 
sions received  from  without,   and   finding  a  con- 
genial soil  within,  which  never  ripen  to  maturity, 
or  make  their  way  into  articulate  speech,  or  obtain 
a  defined  place  in  our  consciousness;  and  yet  these 
germs  of  thought  may  ripen,  though  not  into  propo- 
sitions, yet  into  acts.     Nay,  they  may  have  much, 
or  even  may  have  all,  to  do  in  the  formation  of  our 
characters,  and  the  government  of  our  lives. 

My  belief  is  that  at  this  moment  these  unspoken 
and  untested  movements,  not  so  much  of  mind,  as 
of  appetite,  or,  to  use  a  milder  word,  of  propensity, 
pressing  upon  mind,  these  not  thoughts,  but  rudi- 
ments of  thoughts,  are  at  work  among  us,  and 
within  us ;  and  that,  were  they  translated  or  ex- 
panded into  words,  their  sense  would  be  no  more 


404 


CONCLUSION. 


and  no  less  than  the  old  vulgar  sense  of  those,  who 
in  every  age  have  held  that  after  all  this  world  is 
the  only  world  we  securely  know ;  and  that  the 
only  labor  that  is  worth  laboring,  the  only  care 
worth  caring,  the  only  joy  worth  enjoying,  are  the 
labor,  the  care,  and  joy  that  begin  and  end  with  it. 
What  can  be  more  natural  (in  the  lower  sense  of 
nature)  than  that,  among  those  on  whom  this  world 
really  smiles,  together  with  the  increasing  gravita- 
tion towards  a  terrestrial  centre,  too  often  a  creep- 
ing palsy  should  silently  come  over  the  inward  life? 
And  how  easy  it  is  to  understand  that,  when  such 
a  palsy  has  set  in,  a  new  and  less  ungenial  color  is 
imparted  to  whatever  undermines  the  written  Word, 
or  the  great  Christian  tradition,  or  in  whatever  other 
way  repels,  or  blinds  and  deadens,  the  sense  of  the 
presence  of  God,  and  silences  the  reproaches  of 
the  voice  within.  So  that  it  is  not  either  real  or 
pretended  science,  nor  is  it  even  the  errors  and 
excesses  of  believers,  illegitimately  charged  upon 
belief,  that  form  the  root  of  the  mischief  It  is  the 
increased  force  within  us  of  all  which  is  sensuous 


CONCLUSION 


405 


and  worldly  that  furnishes  every  sceptical  argu- 
ment, good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  with  an  unseen  ally, 
and  that  recruits  many  and  many  a  disciple  of  the 
negative  teaching.  He  indeed  dreams  that  by  the 
free  admission  of  doubt  he  is  paying  homage  to 
truth,  when  in  reality  he  is  only  pampering  the 
inferior  life ;  for  he  allows  fresh  coadjutors,  with 
unexamined  credentials,  to  enter  and  to  reinforce 
its  already  overweening  power.  Ideas  in  them- 
selves weak  are  backed  by  propension,  which  is 
ever  strong.  A  latent  conspiracy  is  established, 
and  two  knights  ride  forth  together  to  the  war,  to 
the  modern  crusade  which  is  against  the  Cross,  one 
of  them  fairly  exhibiting  his  countenance,  but  the 
other  with  his  visor  down. 

And  the  chain  of  cause  and  consequence  is 
something  like  this.  The  Christian  creed  generates 
a  Christian  tradition  of  idea  and  conduct.  Of  this 
tradition  men  do  not  disown  the  precepts;  they 
only  deny  the  parentage.  And  then  there  appears 
some  great  thinker,  some  really  venerable  man, 
who  has  learned  to  cherish  piety,  while  he  discards 


4o6 


CONCL  US  ION. 


dogma.     The  next  order  of  operators  in  the  field 
carry  the  work  a  stage  further,  and  cherish  moral- 
ity, while  they  discard  piety.     And  the  anti-moral, 
anti-spiritual  force,  that  is  strong  even  U  it  be  hid- 
den in  us  all,  using  what  is  substantive  in  the  work 
as  a  cover  for  what  is  destructive,  looks  on  with 
complacency,  and  swells  the  chorus  of  applause. 
The  sceptical  argument  is  in  reality  little  more 
than  a  graft,  set   into,  and   deriving  it?  life   and 
energy  mainly  from,  a  tree  stronger  and  more  en- 
during than  itself 

In  thus   stating  my   conviction,  that   it   is  the 
mighty   world  power    within    us   and   around   us, 
which  at  the  present  time  gives  to  scepticism  the 
chief  part  of  its  breadth  and  its  impetus,  it  will  be 
seen  that  my  remarks  have  little  of  special  appli- 
cation to  the  officers  (so  to  speak)  of  the  thinking 
army ;  to  those  who  really,  and  it  may  be  labod-  ^ 
ously,  think  out  subjects  admitted  to  be  arduous  * 
for  themselves.     They  apply  more  to  the  soldiers, 
and  most  to  the   camp-followers.     These   largely 
outnumber  both,  and  their  voices  are  not  less  good 


CONCLUSION, 


407 


than  others  to  swell  an  acclamation,  as  Falstaff  s 
recruits  were  not  less  good  than  other  men  to  fill  a 
pit.  The  opinions  of  a  man  are  due  partly  to  him- 
self, partly  to  his  environment.  In  the  thinking 
man  they  are  due  mainly  to  himself,  though  even 
he  may  be  affected  by  latent  influences  never  con- 
sciously present  to  his  thoughts.  But  they  are 
mainly,  sometimes  wholly,  due  to  environment  in 
those  who  do  not  industriously  think ;  and  environ- 
ment, I  need  hardly  say,  includes  the  idols  and  the 
fancies,  the  shadows  and  the  phantoms,  of  the  pass- 
ing day. 

I  must,  however,  in  drawing  these  observations 
to  a  close,  for  a  moment  change  my  tone.  In 
their  nature  apologetic,  they  themselves  require  an 
apology;  and  an  apology,  too,  which  is  also  in  the 
nature  of  a  protest.  They  are  intended  to  meet,  so 
far  as  they  go,  a  state  of  things  peculiar  and  per- 
haps without  example,  in  which  multitudes  of  men 
call  into  question  the  foundations  of  our  religion 
and  the  prerogatives  of  our  sacred  books,  without 
any  reference  to  either  their  capacity  or  their  op- 


4o8 


CONCLUSION. 


portunities  for  so  grave  an  undertaking.  In  other 
matters,  qualification  must  be  known  or  shown;  in 
religion,  it  is  taken  for  granted,  sometimes  with 
the  utmost  levity. 

We  have  to  bring  equally  into  view,  on  the  one 
side  and  on  the  other,  two  great  propositions.     On 
the  one  hand,  the  Christian  religion  stands  on  the 
foundation  of  free  and  intelligent  assent.     On  the 
other  hand  every  man,  whatever  be  his  position, 
founds,  and  reasonably,  nay,  necessarily  founds,  the 
actions  and  experiences  of  his  life  principally  upon 
trust.     Upon  trust,  no  doubt,  which  is  both  intelli- 
gent and  free,  but  still  upon  trust.     Upon  trust, 
sometimes    in    particular    individuals,    sometimes 
upon  traditions  which  are,  in  a  narrower  or  wider 
sphere,  the  traditions  of  his  race.     Every  one  act- 
ing a  special  part  in  the  world,  be  it  great  or  small, 
and  be  it  acted  with  or  without  consciousness  of  its 
character,  is  continually  working  for  others  as  well 
as  for  himself;   for  others,  either  to  their  good  or 
to  their  hurt.     He  is  establishing  and  verifying  on 
behalf  of  others,  and  in  lieu  of  others,  intellectual 


CONCLUSION. 


409 


conclusions  or  material  facts,  which  are  needful  for 
human  Hfe,  but  which  the  conditions  of  human  life 
do  not  permit  men  in  each  case  to  establish  and 
verify  for  themselves.  To  establish  and  verify  for 
ourselves  is  undoubtedly  best.  Independent  knowl- 
edge is  to  be  preferred  where,  and  as,  it  can  be  had. 
But  the  limiting  law  is  found  in  capacity  and  in 
opportunity.  Where  we  have  not  these,  and  it  is 
often  so,  let  us  eschew  the  profession,  that  is,  the 
pretense,  of  them :  let  us  refuse  to  seek  refuge  m 
the  falsehood  of  an  affected  or  supposed  examina- 
tion. 

But  it  seems  to  be  beyond  doubt  that,  more  per- 
haps in  these  days  than  of  old,  numbers  both  of 
women  and  of  men  question  the  religion  delivered 
to  them  from  of  old  without,  or  in  excess  of,  both 
capacity  and  opportunity.  The  turn  and  training 
of  the  mind,  the  nature  of  callings  and  pursuits, 
make  it  for  some  of  us  reasonable  and  necessary  to 
put  the  great  historic  revelation  on  its  trial  as  to  its 
evidences  of  fact  and  doctrine,  and  its  relation  to  the 
character  and  condition  of  man.     This  searching 


4IO 


CONCLUSION, 


process  is  in  itself  thoroughly  normal ;  and  its  ap- 
plication to  the  subject-matter,  and  the  commonly 
affirmative  results  of  such  application,  through  so 
many  ages  and  in  minds  so  many  and  so  great, 
have  continually  added  force  to  the  authority»with 
which  the  gospel  lays  claim  to  our  assent  and  our 
obedience. 

As  to  the  mass  of  mankind,  however,  reason 
teaches  that  the  presumption  is  for  each  man  in 
favor  of  that  which  he  has  received,  until  he  has 
found  solid  cause  to  question  it.  This  is  the  rule 
taught  by  common  sense,  and  established  in  com- 
mon life.  It  is  doubt,  and  not  belief,  of  the  thines 
received,  which  ought  in  all  cases  to  be  put  upon 
its  defense, and  to  show  its  credentials:  credentials, 
not  necessarily  in  terms  of  demonstration,  but  of 
rational  likelihood.  But  untested  doubt,  which 
often  makes  a  lodgment  in  our  minds,  is  a  tenant 
without  a  title,  a  dangerous  and  in  the  main  an 
unlawful  guest.  It  assumes  unawares,  and  in 
default  of  examination,  the  attitude  of  demonstrated 
negation.     It  paralyses  action;    it  casts  into  the 


CONCLUSION.  .,, 

411 

shade  the  sense  of  duty,  and  of  the  divine  presence 
encompassing  us  in  all  our  ways;  and  it  reduces 
the  pulse  of  our  moral  health.     Doubt  may  eman- 
cipate us.     Or  it  may  enslave  us.     But  it  must  be 
either  a  friend  or  an  enemy:  it  cannot  be  a  neutral. 
And  those  doubts,  which  cannot  be  tested,  ought 
not   to  be  entertained  as  having  a  title  to  affect 
conduct   or   belief.     And  such  inquiries   as,  from 
being  inadequate,  are  illusory,  are  but  fresh  forms 
of  temptation   from   the   path  of  duty.      Inquiry 
should  be  undertaken  as  a  solemn  duty,  when  it 
can  be  made  the  subject  of  effective  prosecution. 
But  if  we  have  not  the  means  of  effective  prosecu- 
tion, the  so-called   inquiry  is  a   pretense   and  an 
imposture,  a  falsehood  and  a  forgery.     Under  its 
name,  we  become  the  mere  victims  of  assumptions 
due  to  prejudice,  to  fashion,  to  propensity,  to  appe- 
tite, to  the  insidious  pressure  of  the  world-power, 
to  temptation  in  every  one  of  its  Protean  shapes. 
The    universal   vocation    of   man   is   for   each   to 
regulate  his  own  proper  conduct  in  his  own  proper 
sphere.     A  noble   task   for  all  but  even  this  an 


412 


CONCLUSION, 


CONCLUSION. 


arduous  task;  a  task  so  arduous,  that  none  can 
perform  it  in  perfection.  Duty  does  not  require 
us  to  arrive  at  conclusions  on 

"  Fixed  fate,  free-will,  foreknowledge  absolute," 

much  less  on  the  yet  deeper  and  darker  specula- 
tions which  lie  beyond,  and  which,  so  far  as  they 
are  formidable,  all  run  up  into  one  single,  one  per- 
haps impenetrable  problem,  the  presence  and  action 
of  evil  in  the  world.  The  Christian  faith  and  the 
Holy  Scriptures  arm  us  with  the  means  of  neu- 
tralizing and  repelling  the  assaults  of  evil  in  and 
from  ourselves.  That  is  a  practical  answer.  Mist 
may  rest  upon  the  surrounding  landscape,  but  our 
own  path  is  visible  from  hour  to  hour,  from  day 

to  day. 

"  I  do  not  ask  to  see 
The  distant  scene ;  one  step  enough  for  me.'* 

Speculation,  which  is  purposeless,  becomes  irrev- 
erent; and  irreverent  speculation  on  the  doings 
and  designs  of  God,  by  those  who  believe  in  him, 
is  itself  a  sin.  To  leave  the  duty  of  governing 
conduct  to  which  every  one  of  us  is  called,  for 


413 


I 


other  functions  to  "which  we  are  not  called,  unless 
the  power  of  following  them  up  reasonably  guar- 
antees our  vocation  for  the  work,  is  morally  to 
pass  from  food  to  famine.  It  is  as  if  one  who 
possesses  a  piece  or  two  of  crockery  full  of  cracks, 
should  announce  that  he  desires  to  give  a  sumptu- 
ous banquet  to  the  neighborhood. 

But  besides  acknowledging  that  the  proper 
preconditions  of  legitimate  inquiiy  are  adequate 
capacity  and  adequate  opportunity:  and  besides 
deploring  the  course  of  those  who  treat  naked  and 
unreasoned  doubt  as  casting  a  burden  of  proof  upon 
belief,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  religious  inquiry, 
though  it  may  raise  conflicting  issues,  is  not  like  a 
suit  between  parties  who  meet  upon  equal  terms,  or 
the  conflict  of  emperors  warring  for  a  territory  in 
dispute.  Our  Saviour  astonished  the  people  be- 
cause, instead  of  being  lost  in  the  mazes  of  arbitrary 
and  vicious  excrescences  that  darkened  the  face  of 
religion,  he  taught  them  "  with  authority,  and  not 
as  the  scribes."  Taught  them  with  authority ;  that 
is  to  say,  with  the  title  to  command,  and  with  the 


414 


CONCLUSION. 


force  of  command.     If  God  has  given  us  a  revela- 
tion of  his  will,  whether  in  the  laws  of  our  nature 
or  m  a  kingdom  of  grace,  that  revelation  not  only 
Illuminates,  but  binds.     Like  the  credentials  of  an 
earthly  ambassador,  it  is  just  and  necessary  that  the 
credentials  of  that  revelation  should  be  tested     But 
If  it  be  found  genuine,  if  we  have  proofs  of  its  being 
genume  equal  to  those  of  which,  in  the  ordinary 
concerns  of  life,  reason  acknowledges  the  obligatory 
character,  then  we  find  ourselves  to  be  not  inde- 
pendent beings  engaged  in  an  optional  inquiry  but 
the  servants  of  a  Master,  the  pupils  of  a  Teacher 
the  children  of  a  Father,  and  each  of  us  already 
bound  with  the  bonds  which  those  relations  imply 
Then  head  and  knee  must  bow  before  the  Eternal 
and  the  divine  will  must  be  embraced  and  followed 
by  man  with  all  his  heart,  with  all  his  mind,  with 
all  his  soul,  and  with  all  his  strength. 

I  have  yet  one  more  closing  word.  I  have  desired 
to  make  this  humble  offering  at  the  shrine  of  Chris- 
tian belief  in  general,  and  have  sought  wholly  to 
avoid  the  questions  which  concern  this  or  that  par- 


CONCLUSION. 


415 


ticular  form  of  it.  For  there  is  a  common  cause, 
which  warrants  and  requires  common  efforts.  Far 
be  from  me  the  intention  hereby  to  undervalue  par- 
ticular beliefs.  I  have  not  intentionally  said  a  word 
to  disparage  any  of  them.  It  will  in  my  view  be 
an  evil  day,  and  a  day  of  calamity,  when  men  are 
tempted,  even  by  the  vision  of  a  holy  object,  to 
abate,  in  any  region  or  in  the  smallest  fraction,  the 
authority  of  conscience,  or  to  forget  that  the 
supreme  title  and  the  supreme  efficacy  of  truth  lie 
in  its  integrity. 


4i6 


CONCLUSION. 


Note  A. 

In  the  Jewish  Chronicle  of  September  12,  1890, 
I  find  a  paragraph  which  appears  to  approve  the 
general  argument  of  my  article  on  "  The  Mosaic 
Legislation,"  but  impugns  the  statement  that  the 
Massoretes  were  a  body  without  a  parallel  in  his- 
tory, and  that  the  Hebrews  were  alone  in  building 
up  a  regularly  scientific  method  of  handling  the 
material  forms  of  their  sacred  oracles.     I  have  not 
the  slightest  pretension  to  speak  with   authority 
upon  this  subject,  and  I  did  no  more  than  endeavor 
to  report  faithfully  what  I    gathered  from  trust- 
worthy sources.     But  I  have  no  reason  to  believe 
that  my  readers  have   been   misled.     As  regards 
the  Hindus,  I  understand  there  is  an  opinion  that 
they  counted  verses,  words,  syllables,  and  letters; 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  this  statement  is  one 
historically  authenticated.     Even  if  it  were  so,  and 
if  we  add  that  the  Samaritans  imitated  the  proceed- 
ings  of  their  Jewish  brethren,  and   that   similar 
enumeration  was  made  by  Syrians  or  others,  yet 
the  answer  remains,  that  such  a  computation  is  a 
very  small  component  part  of  the  Massorah,  and 
can  no  more  be  called  an  equivalent  to  it  than  a 


CONCLUSION 

417 

human  limb  can  be  called  a  human  body.  To  the 
Massorah,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  there  is  nothing 
elsewhere  that  approaches  an  equivalent.  As  re- 
spects the  Greeks,  they  had  no  sacred  writings  at 
all;  and  I  am  unaware  of  their  having  used,  in  any 
case,  any  such  method  as  is  here  in  question 


27 


4i8 


CONCLUSION. 


CONCLUSION. 


419 


B. 


Note  on  the  Swine  Miracle. 

In  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  December,  1890, 
Professor  Huxley  supported  by  argument  and  cita- 
tion his  assertion  that  the  destruction  of  the  swine 
was  an  act  of  immorality :  justly  corrected  me  for 
having  said  that  he  had  charged  this  immorality 
on  our  Lord,  and  pointed  out  that  his  censure  was 
on  the  narrative,  not  the  person :  and  considered 
that  such  a  narrative  destroyed  the  authority  of 
the  Synoptic  Gospels.     This  censure  was  founded 
on  the  threefold  supposition  that  the  event  took 
place  at  Gadara  ;  that  Gadara  was  as  much  a  Gen- 
tile city  as   Ptolemais ;    and  that  the  herdsmen 
were  presumably  Gentiles,  yet  were,  if  we  accept 
the  narrative,  lawlessly  deprived  of  their  property. 
Some  writers  appear  inclined  to  admit  or  pass 
without  question,  the  contentions  of  fact,  but  point 
out  that  our  Saviour  was  the  organ  of  Omnipotence, 
and  when  he  deemed  it  fit,  was  entitled  thus  to  de- 
stroy, or  share  in  the  destruction  of  property  at  the 
expense  of  individuals,  whether  Jews  or  otherwise. 
I  pass  by  this  answer  without  examination  ;  but  I 
observe  that,  if  the  case  stands  thus,  the  conduct 


I 


of  our  Lord  in  this  instance  differed  widely  from 
the  general  lines  of  his  ministry  and  miracles.  It 
seems  to  me,  then,  richly  worth  our  while  to  spend 
any  amount  of  pains  in  ascertaining  whether  there 
is  a  basis  of  fact  for  the  three  assumptions. 

Accordingly,  with  this  persuasion,  I  made  the 
most  careful  search  I  could  into  the  evidence,  and 
I  found  much  matter  in  Josephus  which  had  not 
even  been  noticed  by  Mr.  Huxley,  or  by  Schurer, 
a  German  author,  undoubtedly  of  high  reputation,' 
who  wrote  with  ability  on  the  History  of  Palestine,' 
but  for  whom  the  subject  in  question  was  no  more 
than  a  by-point.     Mr.  Huxley  appears  to  base  his 
final  reply  ^  to  me  entirely  on  the  assertion  that 
Schurer's  authority  was  of  more  weight  than  mine. 
Certainly.     But  in  this  case  the  original  authority 
is  Josephus,  and  the  authority  of  Schurer  cannot  be 
high  on  passages  which  he  appears  not  to  have 
considered  or  perused. 

I  shall  not  reprint  the  lengthened  examina- 
tion, but  I  present  a  summary  of  the  main  propo- 
sitions. 

I.  The  testimony  of  Origen,  though  not  con- 
temporary, is  express  and  weighty,  and  it  informs 
us,  with  some  verifying  particulars,  that  the  miracle 
took  place  not  at  Gadara,  but  at  Gergesa,  on  the 

»  Nineteenth  Century,  March,  1891. 


420 


CONCLUSION, 


Lake  of  Tiberias.  But  I  have  also  shown  that,  \{ 
It  did  happen  at  Gadara,  that  city  was  a  great 
centre  of  Hebraism;  that  the  Mosaic  law  was  the 
civil  law  as  well;  that  according  to  every  likeli- 
hood the  population  round  it,  and  especially  those 
of  the  rank  to  which  swineherds  would  belong 
were  of  the  Hebrew  race. 

2  Mr.  Huxley  argued  that  as  the  coinage  of 
Gadara  was  Gentile,  the  people  were  also  Gentile 
But  the  coin  in  the  hands  of  our  Lord  in  Judaea 
was  Roman,  while  the  people  were  Jews. 

3.  The  re-annexation  of  Gadara  to  the  Syrian 
province  by  Pompey  was  popular,  as  it  restored 
Roman  authority.  So  Mr.  Huxley;  but  Josephus^ 
says  It  was  popular  because  it  restored  local  self- 
government.  The  centralizing  influence  of  Jerusa- 
lem competed  with  the  local  influence  in  the  prov- 
mces  of  Palestine. 

According  to  Josephus,  the  revolted  Jews  burned 
some  places  in  the  district  of  Gadara,'  and  reduced 
others  to  submission.  Jews,  Mr.  Huxley  thinks 
would  not  have  destroyed  Jews.  But  this  is  just 
what  was  done,  and  very  frequently  done,  by  one 
Jewish  faction  to  another.  Even  in  Jerusalem 
during  the  siege,  says  Milman,  "when  the  insur- 
gents had  time  to  breathe  from  the  assaults  of  the 


»  "  BeU.  Jud.,'  I.  7.  7. 


^IHd.,  II.  18.  5. 


CONCLUSION. 


421 


Romans,  they  turned  their  swords   against  each 
other."  ^ 

I  now  come  to  the  positive  evidence  respecting 
Gadara. 

I.  When  Galinius  became  the  administrator  of 
Judaea,  he  divided  Palestine  into  five  districts  of 
nearly  equal  size,  each  to  have  a  Sanhedrim  for  the 
application  of  the  Mosaic  law.  This  was  a  great 
decentralizing  measure,  afterwards  repealed.  But 
the  point  material  to  the  argument  is  that  Gadara 
was  the  capital  of  one  of  these  districts,  and  a 
Sanhedrim  sat  there.  Such  is  the  twice-stated 
assertion  of  Josephus. 

It  could  not,  then,  be  a  town  of  Gentiles.  True 
it  is  called  Hcllcnis  polls,  a  Grecian  city,  and  it 
became  such  doubtless  by  its  annexation  to  Syria; 
as  Metz  was  a  French  town  till  1871,  and  is  a  Ger- 
man one  now.  In  another  place  Josephus  calls  it 
Syrian. 

2.  Gadara  was  a  formidable  seat  of  Jewish  mili- 
tary power.  When  Vespasian  was  about  to  march 
upon  Jerusalem,  he  went  first  to  Gadara,  the  strong 
metropolis  of  Peraia,  for,  says  Josephus,^  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  leave  nothing  behind  him 
which  might  prevent  his  prosecution  of  the  siege. 
On  the  approach  of  his  army,  the  war  party  fled; 

1  ••  Hist.  Jews,"  II.  280-284.  «  "  Bell.  Jud.,"  IV.  7,  3. 


422 


CONCLUSION, 


but  in  departing  he  both  left  a  garrison,  which  was 
needless  in  any  friendly  town,  and  levelled  the 
walls,  evidently  to  prevent  the  war  party,  if  it  re- 
turned, from  holding  the  city  against  the  Romans. 
Mr.  Huxley  has  not  perceived  that  it  was  often- 
times not  race  or  religion,  but  the  question  of  war 
or  peace,  which  determined  opinion  and  action. 

3.  When  Gadara  was  acquired  by  Alexander 
Jannaeus  for  Judaea,  it  was  placed,  as  matter  of 
course,  under  the  Mosaic  law  as  the  civil  law  of  the 
country.  The  statement  of  Josephus*  is  indirect, 
but  conclusive.  We  find  Gadara  in  the  list  of  the 
cities  conquered  by  Jannaeus ;  and  it  closes  with 
Pella.  But  Pella,  he  adds,  they  destroyed,  because 
the  inhabitants  would  not  submit  to  the  Jewish 
law. 

We  have  no  evidence  that  the  law  thus  estab- 
lished had  been  changed  in  our  Saviour's  time.  It 
appears  from  Josephus  to  have  required  the  sanction 
of  Rome.  Now  we  have  an  edict  of  Augustus,' 
which  confirms  to  the  Jews  of  all  Asia,  and  as  far 
as  Cyrenais,  the  enjoyment  of  their  own  laws  as 
they  had  stood  under  Hyrcanus.  At  the  period 
of  this  remarkable  edict,  Gadara  was  part  of  Judaea. 

4.    Josephus  is  the  classical  authority  on   this 

1  •'  Bell.  Jud.."  II.  5.  3;   ..  Antiq..-  XVII.  n.  4. 
«"Antiq.,"XVI.6,  I,  2. 


CONCLUSION. 


423 


subject.  The  knowledge  of  Strabo  was  defective, 
and  his  testimony  is  confused.  Yet  its  effect  is 
materially  to  support  the  view  here  stated.^ 

5.  Josephus  also  informs  us  that  Vespasian  in 
commencing  his  campaign  of  a.  d.  47,  took  Gadara 
by  assault,  and  slaughtered  the  inhabitants  of  mili- 
tary age.  He  had  two  reasons,  one  of  them  being 
hatred  of  their  race.  This  direct  and  conclusive 
statement  is  got  rid  of  by  altering  the  text  from 
Gadara  to  Gabara.  I  have  given  ^  what  seem  to 
me  ample  reasons  against  such  an  alteration. 

6.  To  all  this  is  to  be  added  the  testimony  of  the 
four  Evangelists,  not  merely  with  reference  to  the 
miracle  recorded  by  three  of  them,  but  with  respect 
to  the  localities  of  the  ministry  of  our  Lord.  We 
must  take  into  view  his  limited  popular  action  in 
Judaea,  his  large  connection  with  Galilee  and  espe- 
cially with  Eastern  Galilee,  and  the  inclusion  of 
Decapolis,  beyond  Jordan,  and  the  lake,  within  his 
missionary  journeys.  The  Synoptic  Gospels  in 
particular  presuppose  for  the  whole  region  the  pre- 
dominance of  a  Hebrew  nationality.  To  this  we 
have  to  add  the  ancient  law  of  the  land.  Neither 
of  these  vital  incidents  of  the  case  is  shaken  either 
by  an  infusion  of  wealthy  Greeks,  who  partook  of 

1  Article  on  Swine  Miracle  in  Nineteenth  Century  for  February, 
1891,  sect.  V.  1  Ibid.,  sect.  vi. 


il 


424 


CONCLUSION. 


the  baths  of  Gadara,  together  with  a  few  official 
representatives  of  the  Roman  power;  nor  by  the 
supposition  that  there  may  have  been  in  the  popu- 
lation a  strain  of  Syrian  blood  which  in  no  way 
implies  at  this  date  an  estrangement  from  the  He- 
brew law  and  worship. 

I  have  thus  summarily  stated  the  case,  without 
dwelling  on  a  cluster  of  improbabilities  which  of 
themselves   hopelessly   envelop   the  notion  enter- 
tained by  Mr,  Huxley.     I  refer  to  the  pages  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  for  a  more  full  exposition  of 
the  argument.     In  such  a  matter  absolute  demon- 
stration is  neither  to  be  had  nor  sought  for,  but  we 
have  to  follow  in  this  as  in  other  matters  the  rules 
established   by   good  sense,   experience,  and   the 
common  consent  of  mankind.     And  I  conceive  it 
has  been  shown  that  to  suppose  the  swineherds  to 
have  been  punished  by  Christ  for  pursuing  a  call- 
ing which  to  them  was  an  innocent  one  is  to  run 
counter  to  every  law  of  reasonable  historical  inter- 
pretation. 


I 


424 


CONCLUSION. 


the  baths  of  Gadara,  together  with  a  few  official 
representatives  of  the  Roman  power ;  nor  by  the 
supposition  that  there  may  have  been  in  the  popu- 
lation a  strain  of  Syrian  blood  which  in  no  way 
implies  at  this  date  an  estrangement  from  the  He- 
brew law  and  worship. 

I  have  thus  summarily  stated  the  case,  without 
dwelling  on  a  cluster  of  improbabilities  which  of 
themselves   hopelessly   envelop   the  notion  enter- 
tained by  Mr.  Huxley.     I  refer  to  the  pages  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  for  a  more  full  exposition  of 
the  argument.     In  such  a  matter  absolute  demon- 
stration is  neither  to  be  had  nor  sought  for,  but  we 
have  to  follow  in  this  as  in  other  matters  the  rules 
established   by  good  sense,   experience,  and   the 
common  consent  of  mankind.     And  I  conceive  it 
has  been  shown  that  to  suppose  the  swineherds  to 
have  been  punished  by  Christ  for  pursuing  a  call- 
ing which  to  them  was  an  innocent  one  is  to  run 
counter  to  every  law  of  reasonable  historical  inter- 
pretation. 


/ 


i 


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